Star Wars vs Halo
by Skykhanhunter
Summary: Ever wonder what happened to the Elite Fleets. One of them ended up in a galaxy far far away. And they were not exactly welcome. Set in Expanded universe after the NJO and LotF. Please read and review.
1. Chapter 1

Star Wars vs Halo

Star Wars vs Halo

The great thing about fiction is that you can do almost any thing with it. So let us suppose, for a brief moment that somewhere in a galaxy far far away, a strange group of starships from our own galaxies future arrive. How or why I know not, all I do know is that they arrive as a result of travelling for so long in slipspace. Here in this galaxy they finally come out of cryogenic induced sleep. This is the Fleet of Divine Intervention of the Covenant led by the Elite Fleet Commander. Onboard his ships are the legions of troops that await his orders, legions of Elites, hundreds of thousands of grunts and several hunters. Caught in the midst of the Brute rebellion the Elites managed to catch their enemies off guard and with the help of their Hunter and Grunt allies managed to destroy the attacking forces. But, in escape, the commander ordered a blind slipspace jump after being confronted with a large fleet commanded by loyalists. Now far beyond their own galaxy and in a different galaxy entirely, they face a grim future. But they are rested, recovered and in perfect health after a long sleep in the cryo chambers. Immediately, with supreme Covenant efficiency they set about discovering the universe around them.

At the same time the Galactic Alliance of this galaxy is sending a group of recon ships to the planet of Nelvaan. The people are a primitive group similar to Bothans and Dantari. They do not fully understand the galaxy but are peaceful with out being greedy. The GA itself does not wish for them to come to harm but rather wishes that they could also live in peace. Every so often they send out a group of scouts to report on the planet to make sure that no one is interfering with the inhabitants. Only a few months have passed since the devastating Shadow War waged by Sith Lords against the galaxy began, proceeded and ended. Now with the time of peace at hand the GA is totally unprepared for the Covenant who have recently come out of slipspace over Nelvaan having passed through the galaxies rim and the hyperspace difficulties that exist there. Here, on Nelvaan is a place of food and supply. They decide to descend to the planet in their Phantom dropships moments before the flight of fighters make their jump to lightspeed. The stage is set for a difficult confrontation between the two.

The Covenant fleet is huge. It was part of the fleet that protected the Covenant capital _High Charity_ until the Brutes treachery forced them to flee. It contained one Supercarrier, five Assault Carriers and another hundred smaller ships, mostly _CCS_ class battlecruisers. In short it was a fleet big enough to tackle anything, or so they thought. One hundred and six ships all under the command of the Supreme Commander. They were however cold and hungry and in need of resupply. Therefore when the scout cruiser reported that they had discovered a lush planet the Covenant quickly altered course for it. It came quickly into orbit and proceeded to let the ships go down for resupply individually.

The first ship went down with seven phantoms of troops accompanying it. Onboard were the Fleet Commander and his SpecOps troopers under their Ultra Elite.

"This is not the galaxy that we know of Fleet Commander."

"That I know Commander. Nevertheless this planet is rich in food and water. It will be a great place to stop for sometime."

"It is similar to Earth in its atmospheric and biological makeup."

"Let us pray to the Gods that we will not meet any Demons here!" the Fleet Commander said with Elite humour prompting a nervous laugh from all the troops aboard. He had only chosen Elites for this task as he felt that the Grunts would not be suitable. Only Elites, that way if they had to deal with any enemies they could do so quickly and quietly. The phantom landed.

"Let's go troops!" the SpecOps Elites disembarked the Fleet Commander at their head. Instantly they set up a perimeter and the Commander sniffed the air.

"It is good my brothers, this will be a perfect place to resupply. Get me some Banshees I intend to do a further recon."

The squadron of fighters dropped out of hyperspace and headed towards the planet. Since they had come out of hyperspace on the far side of the planet they could not see the Covenant Fleet. They approached in a semi symmetrical formation, mostly keeping like that due to direction rather than actual battle readiness. They swept around the planet's atmosphere and headed into the various regions where life normally existed. In this particular area they knew the Nelvaanians would not be very interested in the fighters as they went past, but the ships needed to scan the areas to see if they were doing alright. The last thing anyone needed was the arrival of oppression on this planet.

"Nothing looks okay to me."

"Sir I'm reading some strange objects on the far side of the continent. I believe that they are technological."

"Odd the Nelvanians don't have technology. I'll take a closer look." He edged off to the left.

Around one of the mountain peaks came the Fleet Commander and his flight of Banshees. They liked what they saw. Plenty of fresh grassland and streams containing what was according to the Spec Ops commander, very sweet water. The Fleet Commander was very pleased with himself. He had managed to bring the Fleet out of the war to a place of rest. Long times had they travelled and he was beginning to wonder if they had not undertaken the true Great Journey? If they had it would still be that the Prophets had been lying, but that there really was a great Journey. Unless this were merely another part of the Galaxy that they had not yet discovered. This was a planet they would not have to fight over.

"Commander!" the voice said over his receiver.

"Commander here, proceed!" he said.

"We have detected life signs. They are not human but they may be hostile."

The Forerunners! It was a possibility. "Send a cloaked team to investigate. But do not harm them under any circumstances."

"At once Fleet Commander!"

The Fleet Commander smiled to himself. It was not often that one managed to see the new world but it existed.

The pilots were flying regularly until they spotted the massive bulk of the Assault Carrier in the distance. At once they dropped lower.

"Get me a readout on that ship!" the captain was in a state of shock. He had never seen a ship like that before. Huge with bulbous sections it gleamed in the sunlight and shone a purplish colour. If that was a warship they were dead, if it was a freighter what was it doing here in a hunter gatherer nation?

"Nothing in the charts, it is an unknown ship sir. No idea what weapons it has or if it is even a warship."

"Better investigate by foot."


	2. Chapter 2

The Fleet Commander had landed and was also cloaked when he caught up with the SpecOps troops

The Fleet Commander had landed and was also cloaked when he caught up with the SpecOps troops. He sat in the shadows with them and observed the odd creatures in front of them. They were not what he expected. The Forerunners were a highly technological race who did not hunt with spears and wear loincloths. Nevertheless, these creatures here were as big as a Brute but did not have the typical brute look or attitude. In fact they were quite civilised it appeared. The Fleet Commander felt a new interest spark in his mind. They could possibly be part of the new Covenant, which he could forge here in the afterlife. He made as if to move towards the group when an Elite waved him back. He was about to ask what had happened when the group of males left leaving one of their young warriors alone. The Fleet Commander was surprised by this as he expected big creatures to crash through the forest. No, they were silent as rodents.

Suddenly out of the Forest came a huge creature. It dashed to the spot just in front of the warrior where he stood with his shield in guard position and his spear ready. The other creature seemed to be sniffing the air and looking around. At one point it stared at the Commander who stiffened in the penetrating stare. The creature could smell him but not see him. Immediately however the young warrior took his chance and leaped into the air! Stabbing swiftly it wounded the giant creature! The Commander admired the species' bravery already! Instantly the creature lashed out and kicked the young warrior to one side where he immediately stood! Doubly impressive! The warrior dodged and weaved before plunging his spear deep into the giant's neck as it bent to the ground! The warrior stood and cried a long battle cry to the sky, obviously thanking the Gods for his survival. The Fleet Commander turned to his subordinate.

"I am going to invite this species into the Covenant."

"A wise choice Commander. They are a strong race. They would benefit from our accompaniment."

The Nelvaanian was busy performing the rituals over the dead Horax when out of the corner of his eye he saw a large creature step out of the bushes and walk towards him. It was tall and was covered in a gold shell, though its skin was black underneath. It walked right up to him and raised a hand in greeting. It was unarmed. The Nelvaanian looked at the creature curiosity. It was talking in a strange language that he did not quite recognise but he guessed that it was the language of the larger galaxy. Perhaps this was one of the Ghost hands fabled of old stories that came to bring peace and harmony back to the planet.

"Holt Khazed?" he asked.

The creature looked oddly at him as if it did not understand. The warrior became even more surprised when out of the surrounding cover came more of the creatures, with different coloured shells. Large and strong they seemed. He gestured back towards his village and they nodded.

The GA pilots walked carefully through the foliage. As they got nearer the ships got bigger, for ships was the right word. There were at least a dozen of them and they all had air speeders zipping around them. At least he didn't think they were starfighters. At least he didn't know of any starfighters but every time a ship rose up into the atmosphere they went back onboard. Also they were very small and by the time they reached the camp he saw that he had been right, they were open cockpits with the pilots lying prone. They seemed to conform to the standard cockpit idea but the captain thought that it would be interesting to fly one! The idea of having the open atmosphere around him appealed to his sense of adventure. But when they got to the camp he soon found other things to occupy his attention.

They were not normal aliens, or at least they had never been seen before. There appeared to be two different species here, one group tall and regal, the others short and very clumsy. The short ones had a small device strapped over their noses that appeared to be a rebreather of some sort. Also while they did not carry weapons as such they did have them in grabbing distance. Strange looking blasters and what appeared to be a couple of lightsabers. As the pilots watched two of the tall ones began to have a conversation.

"The Commander has been gone for a while."

"Apparently the natives invited him back to their village."

"So he is going to invite them to join with us."

"Apparently."

"Wise. We need to establish a home for ourselves and a new set of colonies."

"I just hope this place has no demons. The last batch were very irritating."

"True, but they were just human!"

"Very annoying humans."

"I hate having to deal with humans, we should have just invited them into the Covenant in the first place."

"Humans are an affront to the Gods, you know that as do I. we had to fight them."

"The prophets lied about the great journey, how do we know that they did not lie about this?"

"True but…" he stopped and looked straight at the captains hiding place. He switched to a strange language. Then back to Basic.

"So what do you make of this place?"

"Very interesting." Said the other. "It has a strange quality to it. I could spend a lot of time exploring here. You Grunt, what do you think?"

One of the short species turned to look at the tall one. "I don't like it here! It's too cold!"

"You Grunts are too sensitive. Never fear though, we will find ourselves some planet that contains as much heat as you desire."

This was all getting very interesting for the GA pilots when they were discovered. Three Elites in camouflage crept up on them and quickly surrounded the captain. It was only his being a Duros that stopped him being killed. He was not human and therefore he would not be killed until it was discovered if he was a threat. As was protocol his fellows hid in the bushes until they could retreat to the fighters, there they would flee back to get the nearest capital ship and support troops. They would return but their commanding officer was captured.


	3. Chapter 3

They kept him blindfolded while he was being brought to the brig

They kept him blindfolded while he was being brought to the brig. As they went they passed Elites and Grunts walking around and picking up food and water, storing it in crates and carrying it over to the gravity lift that was taking it up to the carrier. They went up by this way as well and were aboard in time for the Field Master to come and investigate the new arrival. The Duros was kept in the force field containment facility whilst the Elites conversed outside in their native tongue. Eventually the Field Master turned back to him and spoke quickly and quietly.

"Who are you?"

The captain responded and pleasantries were exchanged.

"Tell me captain, of what world are you?"

"I am from Duro Field Master. It is one of the core worlds."

"Where are we?"

"On the Outer Rim of the Galaxy."

The Elites looked at each other in surprise. This was news to them.

The Field Commander continued. "Is this the galaxy that humans call the Milky Way?"

The Captain laughed, "I've never heard a Human call this Galaxy the Milky Way. Mostly they just call it the Galaxy. I don't know if they call it anything."

"So there are humans in this galaxy too?!" the Elites growled.

The Captain hurridly changed the subject. "So what are you? I've never seen you before."

The Field Master gestured to himself and his comrades. "We are Sangheili, more commonly known as Elites. The smaller ones are called Unggoy or Grunts. The others you have not seen are called Lekgolo or Hunters. We are part of the Covenant!"

"What is the Covenant?"

The Field Master did not directly answer this question, "An Alliance of species for mutual benefit."

That seemed to be it for the time being as the Elites left the room and went to the transmitter rooms where they sent a message to the Fleet Commander who was still in the village.

By the end of their time on the planet, the Covenant had not managed to bring the Nelvaanians into the Covenant and had released the Duros Captain who had played along with their ideas of talking to the rest of his species about joining the Covenant. Whilst the warriors of Nelvaan had been decided against due to their not being sufficiently technologically advanced and their not being expansionistic, the Covenant signed a treaty with them stating that they would be allowed to come there for resupply while the Covenant would leave them be. They had been hospitable but quietly declined and the Fleet Master had agreed. Returning to the carrier he spoke briefly about allowing the Duros to join the Covenant before he set the captain free using the Gravity lift. He did not know it but the Covenant had used his ships records to find a map of the Galaxy and to determine their next step. They decided to make a quick stop by the planet of Naboo. It was a small planet but equally rich in terms of resources and was, good for the Grunts, a temperate planet, although the Duros had said that Tatooine was the place to go for heat and the Grunts would be happy to go there. But he had suggested Naboo first. For one thing, after hearing about their journey here he had thought it would be best if there was a welcoming committee where they arrived next so that they could be introduced to the Galaxy properly. But he had not expected their journey to be so fast.


	4. Chapter 4

Okay. Perhaps it would be best for me, considering I failed to do so when I first uploaded, to establish that I am not the happy owner of these franchises.

Halo belongs to Bungie and Star Wars to George Lucas. That's my only disclaimer.

Also, please note that this is my first story and I will admit, not my best. I should be getting some new ones up soon.

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Naboo. The lush planet of the Mid Rim. A place that did not expect more than a hundred ships of the Covenant to spill out of slipspace over them. The Covenant were very impressed with this place. It was as shiny as Earth and at least as interesting. Below them the planet glittered in space as if it were a gem to be taken. Another point of note was that it seemed to have only a small number of lifesigns. There were not a huge amount of people there anyway. The Supreme Commander decided to take a bold step and advance on the planet. As he did so several small craft were seen to be attacking the ships. _Seraphs_ were dispatched to intercept these small craft which, by the look of them were police craft of some sort. Suddenly one of the Seraphs exploded! The Commander realised that the attackers were just that, a hostile force. Immediately he ordered all _Seraphs_ to attack! The number of the smaller ships was incredible and their speed and ferocity was astounding! However, outnumbered they fled the battle and returned to the planet.

And so the Supreme Commander decided to place the planet under interdiction. The pilot his troops had captured had hinted that there was a very powerful Empire here in the Galaxy and it was possible that in glassing the planet they would incur destruction for themselves. That was something the Supreme Commander was not going to do. His troops followed him out of loyalty and the last thing he wanted was for them to suffer for their loyalty. He was content to sit and wait to see what happened. In the mean time he would not allow any craft to enter slipspace while he was in orbit. Any ships that tried were shot at and forced back to the surface. However the planets defenders attempted a further attack! In a swift attack they assaulted his forces in numbers and quickly cut of his Assault Carrier from the rest of the fleet. In a desperate attack the attackers fired several explosive missiles at the ship, but the ship shrugged the attack off as if it were bee stings. The attack ended as soon as the carrier fired its pulse laser turrets into the heart of the attackers lead vessel, which appeared to be a refitted freighter. Nothing remained except a couple of escape pods which headed for the planet. The Commander was now resolute. The inhabitants had brought this upon themselves. He gave the orders.

The messages contained the most incredible statements ever heard. An extragalactic force had invaded again! This was not possible. However when reports started coming in from Naboo of an unrecognised force of more than a hundred ships! But according to the captain who had made the initial report the aliens were calm and controlled, calling themselves the Covenant or something along those lines. But they appeared to be skilled warriors. As soon as possible a large task force was sent to Naboo to investigate. Thirty large warships, destroyers and various frigates that were being sent to fight the invaders, and they were all in high spirits. They were the largest and most powerful warships available to the GA they were not going to be beaten in a stand up fight. They were not going to be beaten by a group of no accounts who had decided to come into the Galaxy when they were not invited. Besides even if they were beaten the rest of the Galaxy was going to win the battle, that was inevitable and it was pointless to try and resist that crushing power. Besides they had a group of Jedi with them who would be able to quickly tear any attacker apart!

The Phantoms descended through the atmosphere quickly, bringing with them huge numbers of troops and vehicles. With them came more than thirty battle cruisers into the atmosphere. They were escorted by Banshees which fired almost continuously at any ground vehicles which attempted to fight back. They quickly located the capital city and headed straight for there! It was a precarious place, perched right on the edge of a cliff and waterfall! Into the centre of this area came almost a thousand troops who landed with Wraiths, Ghosts and troops carriers. The Phantoms kept any prying heads down with quick and accurate fire. The first groups of troops to land were surprised to find laser shots traversing the main square where they were landing. However their personal shields gave them a slight edge. Quickly they got into cover and fought back. Once the Wraiths and Ghosts arrived, however, things went pretty easy. The defenders seemed to have no armour, except for a groups of hovercraft mounted with guns that appeared to be more for police work than for anything else! But once it was discovered that these defenders were human it was enough to stymie the entire assault force. More humans, armed with weapons that were almost as good as their own! One of the Elites took a gun off a dead human and discovered that it was a heavy duty tough fighting weapon that as capable of tearing strips off anyone who attempted to fight it! The enemies here were more tenacious and dangerous than the humans back home. When informed of this the Commander decided that he would pursue the war against them to see if they were worthy of joining the Covenant!

Most of the troops here had apparently decided to retreat to what was obviously a temple or a palace, where their leader was kept, thought the Supreme Commander. So it was that he assigned the Spec Ops Elites to infiltrate the palace and to capture the leader. The Spec Ops were highly excited about this enterprise. Never before had they fought an enemy that was capable of tackling them with such ferocity as this. They were eager to meet the man who was in charge of this entire force. They engaged their active camouflage and slipped into the night. They had been ordered to kill as few as possible of their opponents, so they sneaked past the sentries and those who were on guard and into the palace. Even as they stole through the darkened rooms they had to marvel at the amount of redoubts that faced them almost in every room. If necessary they quickly and quietly incapacitated any who seemed to become aware of their presence. Every so often they came across a robot of highly advanced design that was scanning the corridors with, they knew, highly advanced technology and they avoided them like the plague.

After a few long nights they came across a room that was still brightly lit and obviously was the commander's chambers. They refused to enter however until they had fully surrounded the entire room and could infiltrate the room. What they saw shocked them! The commander was a female and the others referred to her as majesty, making her a queen! A female in command of a group of fighters. A shock but not to be unexpected. Carefully and decidedly they entered the room where the people were talking and the commander had a sudden brainwave. He waved his fighters to various parts of the room whilst he himself went to stand right in front of the queen, or as near enough as was possible. When all was set, he disengaged his camouflage.

Out of the air in front of the queen suddenly appeared a tall alien, the likes of which she had never seen! It bowed quickly to her while her bodyguards whipped up their weapons and focused them on it. As soon as they did so other aliens suddenly did likewise at strategic point s all over the room. The leader spoke, "Put down your weapons or we will be forced to act against you. I request an audience with her majesty!"

She motioned for her troops to stand down but signalled that the others outside the room should remain on guard and attack if need be.  
"You speak basic? How is this possible?"

"Where we come from it is known as English madam. I am the Spec Ops Commander of the Fleet of Divine Intervention of the Covenant! My Supreme Commander would like to speak with you. It is an offer of peace he has for you!"

"Do I have a choice?"

He shrugged, "Not really. If you do not comply we will bombard your city from above until the river will never flow again!"

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Reviews please. For future reference.


	5. Chapter 5

The Supreme Commander when he appeared was a tall regal alien clad in the purple armour and cloak of his station

The Supreme Commander when he appeared was a tall regal alien clad in the purple armour and cloak of his station. Behind him strolled an honour guard of Elites and Grunts and a Hunter pair. They walked into the palace past the hostile stares of the soldiers surrounding it. But it was not an arrogant march. Rather, there was respect in the eyes of the Elite who obviously had been impressed by their fighting capabilities. He ascended the steps and approached the throne room. His stance alone was impressive enough. He walked as if he had no need of the troops at his back, and indeed she doubted he had any need of them.

"Greetings. I am the Supreme Commander of the Fleet of Divine Intervention."

"I am the queen of Naboo. You are welcome, under truce alone."

"I appreciate your actions. You have an astute mind and a skilled war force. We have a long time respect for the enemy who is capable of giving us a tough fight."

"Your troops are one of the most terrifying we have ever faced."

"That is why we are offering you a chance to join the Covenant. That way we will spare you and allow you to join us as we search for a home world on which to establish a colony. In this way we are able to help each other."

That took her breath away and she needed time to think about it and said so.

"Very well, I will return to my flagship and give you time to think this over and respond to me. You can send a ship to meet us and let us know your answer."

It was as soon as he had returned to his ship that the fleet came out of hyperspace. Another war had begun!

The first thing that happened when the ships came out of hyperspace was a moment of shock for the Elites who hadn't realised that they were going to be resisted to such an extent. That lasted for about five minutes, until they reorganised and prepared for a battle. Immediately they sprang into action! The Seraphs got into action swiftly as the first wave of ships came speeding into action. Again the attacking fighters were smaller than the Seraphs, but the Seraph packed a much heavier punch than the smaller fighters that were attacking them. But for the moment it was the large attacking warships that the Supreme Commander was worried about. They were soon going to pose a problem, by now they had entered a _CCS_ class Battlecruisers maximum range. But he was the Supreme Commander. He must not show fear in the face of the enemy. Instead he ordered his ships to let the enemy fire first, he wanted to know the strength of their guns. This would let him gauge their tactics and how they would revolve around their big ships.

Meanwhile, the GA ships were shocked by what they saw. The main battleship of the enemy was the size of an _Imperial_ class Star Destroyer at least and the largest ship there was the size of a Dreadnaught. Immediately they lost their cockiness and their self assurance. This could not be an easy fight. The Star Destroyer types were very much the biggest group there. But the battle was not over yet and as the fighters engaged they reported that the enemy fighters were at least double their size so it was quickly decided that they were simply oversized frigates and the big one an oversized destroyer. Another thing was that as they got closer they quickly saw that the enemy ships held their fire and did not attempt to stop them, but instead got themselves into a defensive line. What they intended to accomplish by this was unknown so the ships started into their own preferred firing position and he ordered the ships to start firing when in range!

The Supreme Commanders patience was rewarded when the enemy ships opened fire and started to pound the lead ships prows. The guns were capable of firing repeatedly, at a much greater rate than the Covenant ships. But they were not as deadly. Having reached optimum range and having quickly presented themselves as a nice target the Supreme Commander gave the order and his fleet fired at the same time with their selected targets. Heavy duty pulse laser burned through the shields of the attacking battleships and the follow up volley of plasma cracked hulls and shattered metal. Under the deluge of heavy fire the first group of warships fell apart and scattered, not quite destroyed, but certainly incapable of being too difficult should they attempt to resume the action. He was not going to risk them being to dangerous. He quickly ordered his Destroyers and Frigates to form a screen on the flanks not to let anything through. He sent word to his other Ship Masters. They reported the same thing. Minor damage and only five hull breaches in the fleet. Engineers were already repairing them, there was no reason to worry. The Supreme Commander was not worried but he was concerned. That had come from one engagement. He had one problem to worry about. His fighters were outnumbered by three to one. It made it an even fight, but only due to the fact that the other fighters were by far the smaller. He ordered his troops to prepare for battle in earnest. As he spoke the enemy fighters started to attack the big ships!

As was usual the admiral ordered his fighters to attack the big ships, it had worked every time with the Empire, and even the Vong, so hopefully it would work with these ships here. What happened was a strange thing. The ships all turned and headed for the surface of the planet. For a moment he wondered if he could hit them while their backs were turned but the firing of a few of those lasers made the idea stupid as he sought to recover ground. Also if they fired now, if they missed the ships they'd hit the planet and cause untold damage. Even as he thought about it, those ships there in the planets gravity well couldn't escape and he therefore had them trapped. He swiftly ordered that his ships go into the gravity well and pursue interdiction of the planet Naboo. At the same time he ordered the smaller fighters to keep the pressure up. They joyfully did so firing carefully and precisely into the hull and if possible trying to get into the hangers and launch their torpedoes to destroy it from the inside.

Unfortunately for the attackers, the second the Assault Carrier and the battle group were inside the atmosphere, they launched their Banshees. Less heavily shielded, but by far smaller and more lethal in the atmosphere than the Seraphs they replaced the sorely damaged Seraphs and son took the fight to the suddenly bigger and more cumbersome fighters of the GA. They soon eliminated all opposition in the atmosphere in this area at least. They received a breathing space for the time being and decided to regroup and re-gather their forces. The Supreme Commander sent all his damaged fighters and battlecruisers to go to Nelvaan and to there make repairs and to effect a quick return. They would be allowed under their treaty with the natives. This left the Supreme Commander with a force of seventy cruisers and destroyers, with the frigates watching space with the Banshees. He decided to land ground forces away from any settlements. That would give him the element of surprise. Time for a ground battle.


	6. Chapter 6

My sincerest apologies to all those who were waiting for so long for this. I had quite lost my way with the plot and was in a doldrum with it. I hope this will satisfy for now. I have gotten a definite direction with it.

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A hard battle was expected and the admiral of the fleet ordered his troops to go to the planet and to prepare for a ground assault

A hard battle was expected and the admiral of the fleet ordered his troops to go to the planet and to prepare for a ground assault. He sent out the word for an army to be dispatched to the system so that they could begin their assault on the remaining ground forces. Ten thousand troops were on their way. He felt that that would be enough when combined with his own and a few armoured divisions. Once they had landed this battle could be ended quickly and quietly. The Jedi of the group wanted to instead end this with a quick one on one battle with the Commander. But all the further combat with the aliens was to be regarded as out of bounds until the reinforcements had arrived.

The Supreme Commander had a few surprises himself. In an instant he had recalled the Supercarrier he had sent on a little reconnaissance mission. Back from the planet Tatooine the carrier came at full speed. It came out of slipspace just inside the gravity well of the planet and raced down into the atmosphere. Supercarriers were rare. This one had been part of the Fleet since it had been the protector of High Charity. The ship was well over the size of anything that had ever been seen in the galaxy except for the huge _Executor_ class Super Star Destroyers. More importantly the Supercarrier had more than five hundred thousand troops on it. While the GA force commander had been right about the fact that they were oversized fighters and the ships could be called over sized destroyers and frigates, it didn't change the fact that they had a ground invasion force the size of a small planets population. And they were backed up by armour, air vehicles, artillery, light vehicles and defence systems. The Supercarrier was an invasion force all of its own, and the Supreme Commander intended to make use of that fact. A ground battle was what he needed right now, but he would need diversionary attacks in the future to draw the fire away from the battle here. As he explained to the Ship Masters when they had gathered, if there was going to be a war here and now then he would need to take the initiative. The last thing they would expect was for a sudden war to break out all over the Galaxy. The ships he had sent to Nelvaan had received their orders. They were going to tip the scales here in this battle when the time came. Deception and misinformation were the unknown parties best tactics and for now they were the unknown quantity. Their number was unknown, their strength was unknown and their dangerousness was unknown. A twenty ship force here on Naboo should be sufficient to hold off the attacking force. If any more were needed he could send to Nelvaan for more. He would stay here with an Assault Carrier and a force of _CCS_ Battlecruisers. That was all that his enemy had seen in their first attack. Now he needed them to continue their assault. They had the time and the resources to continue their defensive preparation here until they were ready to take the fight to the enemy should they attack. There were several more targets that he needed the rest of his force to deal with in good time. For now they should prepare themselves with all the haste that they would need for the upcoming war! There were seven targets that the Supreme Commander had set up for assault to give them a powerful position to dictate to the rest of the galaxy their demands. Planets by the names of Hypori, Fondor, Hoth, Utapau, Tatooine, Shola and Correlia. If these planets were seized it would give the Covenant a chance to gain perhaps a measure of strength in this galaxy.

The Fleet of Divine Intervention, alone, bereft of support began what would come to be known as its greatest campaign, and it's most hopeless. They were a hundred and six ships against a galaxy that had fought more wars then was thought possible, and had some of the most advanced technology ever known. In the future the term Hundred and Six was used to describe any force that went up against impossible odds without hesitation. Now the Covenant had come to the Galaxy and they were going to leave their mark!

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	7. Chapter 7

Battle is getting closer. The commanders set their pieces in motion!

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Out of hyperspace the fleet reinforcements came spilling like a flood. A huge invasion army was onboard, packed with armoured tanks, walkers, troops and support vehicles. They were here to show the invaders that they didn't like anyone messing with their galaxy. Many were aware that this particular planet had been at the centre of galactic politics for some time, having given the galaxy a Chancellor and a strong senator and had been the source of a symbolism of freedom when the combined forces of human and gungan had driven the mechanical invader of the giant trade corporation from the planet. The GA could not let that happen again through their inaction. This time the invaders were going to be destroyed!

Down they came in a flood. Transports carrying T-5 articulated tanks, S-27 quick attack speeders that could whip across terrain carrying a squad of troops and firepower to back them up, T-53 speeders that flew in, capable of doing incredible damage with their heavy lasers and harpoons. Also came heavy turret guns and support vehicles. These were going to destroy the invaders and drive them back beyond the rim. They landed on the opposite side of the planet to the aliens where they could establish a base of operations and prepare for their assault on the alien positions. This battle was to be quick and easy for them to succeed. Nevertheless, it was advised and accepted that they should prepare a defensive line should the aliens break through.

On the opposite side of the planet the Supreme Commander examined his troops as they prepared for war. A truce had been established with the humans who lived in the city. The war would not affect them while the army would set up their defensive positions elsewhere. The queen had said that she was leaning toward the Covenant and because of this the Supreme Commander judged it best to leave them alone. It would play to their advantage if they were seen defending their allies regardless of their commitment. He now stood on the lip of the waterfall and watched as his troops moved out of the city towards the forest. From there they would progress to the plain that was on the opposite side and set up further defensive positions. Spec Ops would be going out even farther and setting up a perimeter where they would act as his eyes and ears. Behind enemy lines they would be able to watch enemy movements and perhaps disrupt communications and pass along important information. It would give them an edge, an edge that would not be wasted.

For a moment the Supreme Commander removed his eyes from the zoom effect and sighed to himself. Another war. They had left one galaxy for another and here they fought too. He pulled himself together. He was Sangheili and they never backed down in the face of superior odds. It was quite likely that they would bring the bulk of their armed forces here, he was counting on that. Then his other forces would strike at the speed that only the Sangheili could manage. He was fortunate he guessed that he had enough supplies of methane to last his Unggoy troops until he could find a more plentiful supply. His ships were still strong on fuel, but the Huragok were finding it more difficult to find replacement parts for his entire fleet. If he didn't find more alloys soon he would be reduced to stripping down ships to get replacements. That was the last thing he needed. He had requested access to data files in the human city library but he had been denied unless he gave out information on his own side. It was a problem that he would have to deal with, but for now it was lower on his list of priorities than the immediate situation which was to prepare for a battle. His battle cruisers were to remain out of reach in a close cluster that would allow them to engage an enemy in overlapping waves of fire should anyone try to reach them. They to be could, from, this position send out waves of fighter should they be necessary. He had already requisitioned almost all the Banshees and Phantoms that the ships carried. They would be very helpful in sending troops to the field of battle the moment they were needed. It would help immensely when the time came. He had also ordered his troops to dull their armour and to prepare for a serious fight when they came head to head. These people carried weapons almost as good as their own and there were far more of them. In the forest they would need to be good at ambush and assault. It was going to be very difficult going from battlefield dominance to being the ones who needed careful with casualties and resources. He couldn't commit to a big battle at the moment.

The Supreme Commander of the Fleet stepped back. His Hunter guardians stood ready to go into battle the moment he gave the word.

"Let's go."

He walked over to his Banshee which was parked at the edge of the cliff and waited while the hunters got into a Phantom. They ascended via a gravity lift up into the belly of the craft. The Supreme Commander got into his Banshee and started it. Accompanied by two more and the Phantom he rose into the sky and raced across the sky towards the head of the column of troops.

The first contact came later that day. A scouting Phantom came across a couple of speeder bikes on the ground. It began to fire its plasma cannons as the bikes raced off. The tree less plain was not the best place to try to outrun a Phantom as it flew low and the nose cannon roasted one of the pilots. Right at that point two of the air speeders came burning across the sky towards the transport which turned and ran. The new T-53 military speeder did not have the flaws of its predecessor. It carried heavy duty laser cannons and proper grade shielding. Unfortunately for the T-53's the Phantom also possessed good shielding and cannons. However the T-53 was by far the more manoeuvrable. They raced around the Phantom and poured in their fire from all the different angles. One of the side gunners was hit and tumbled, screaming, from the craft. At that point however, two Banshees came in fast and low! The speeders broke off their attack and began to shoot at the Banshees which returned fire as best they could. Both craft had their fair share of nimbleness and agility. At the end of the battle, short and sharp as it was, one Banshee and one T-53 went home. That was to be the first of many.

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More combat in the next chapter. Azure Zangetsu, my thanks for your considerate offer of a name, no doubt a supercarrier Mk II would be class, but I don't think it would be good just now. The Covies have yet to seize a shipyard. Everyone else, please review.


	8. Chapter 8

New chapter, ground battle. I am really having fun with my Supreme Commander. Anyway, here we go!

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The first of the ground engagements came within the next two days. The Spec Ops had sent word that the enemy was closing in on the forests. The Supreme Commander had been expecting them to arrive soon enough after the first contact. Snipers lurked in the trees over all the entrances to the Forests. He needed them to keep the enemy at bay, and to harry them all the way into the forests so that they would feel the need to keep their heads down all the time! It would be useful to have them do so. His Field Master was also aware of the plan and had instructed the fireteams to prepare for close quarters fighting. The Grunts were surprisingly determined, and the Minor Elites in charge of them were equally prepared for combat. Ranger squads were prepped and ready for attack, both by jump pack and by foot. The hunters were equally impatient to get into the fray, stamping their feet and shaking their spines and armour. Then, suddenly, it began!

The snipers kept a close eye on the ride as they heard the growling begin. Back in their own galaxy the sound meant the same thing always, tanks! Here they came! The T-5's appeared over the ridge, with their twin cannons on their heads and the third missile launcher between them. They rolled down the hill on their treads, speeder bikes zipped over the hill immediately following them, with speeders carrying troops right on their tails. The Field Master prayed that the Human Commander would go through the forest to the city rather than go around. Going through would slow his progress, but provide cover. For the Covenant, going through would give them the battle they needed, going round would mean that they would be cut off from the heights. The bulk of their troops were in the forest, the rest were at the heights, guarding the Banshees and Phantoms. The tanks seemed to dither for a moment before they began to approach the forest. All the Sangheili breathed a sigh of relief.

The speeder bikes raced ahead across the ground through the trees. The drivers swept their heads form side to side as they began to search for threats. The lead driver never saw the camouflaged Elite, in leaves and darkened armour, that raised his sniper rifle to his eyes, took a breath and fired a single shot. The round went straight through the drivers temple! He toppled silently from his seat and the bike coasted gently to a halt. One of the other drivers saw him fall and turned towards the spot. Just as he halted, the sniper shot him too! The third driver in the group saw it and turned to flee, his comlink jammed he raced trying to reach the rest of the army to warn them of the sniper threat. Out of the trees a Grunt jumped on the bike! Managing to hang on the Grunt drew his plasma pistol and shot him in the back of the head! The bike ran on until it hit a tree and exploded! The snipers turned their attention to the oncoming transports that were carrying the troops.

On one of the lead transports that was incoming towards the forest a soldier sat readying his blaster rifle and preparing for the combat that was about to ensue. As he sat collecting his wits he looked up towards the pilots seat, where the pilot sat. He took a quick look behind him where a gunner was manning the large turret that would provide covering fire to the attacking troops if necessary. Suddenly a stream of energy whipped over the side and hit the gunner square in the face! With a slow, almost monotonous movement the man toppled off the seat and landed on the plain. There were similar hissing shots and most of the other transports lost gunners as well, others pilots! Someone shouted snipers and everyone piled out of their craft and took cover behind them. The tanks rolled into position and fired into the forest! Their shots chewed up the ground and shattered tree trunks in the areas that the rifle fire had come from.

"Move for the tree line, it'll give us some cover!" the sergeant commanded. They clambered over the transport and began to run forward towards the tree line. Even as they ran lethal beams sliced through them and dropped three more members of the squad. The rest made it and dived for cover. They were lucky. Behind them plasma mortar fire began to rain down on them from above and creamed four tanks and a transport. At that point a rumble began, back the way they came and getting closer.

The snipers had moved the second their shots had hit home. The usual reaction of humans back home was to saturate the area with tank fire! They were not mistaken. Laser fire began to impact on the forest the second after they had gotten into new hiding places. They endured the heavy fire until they could react and then they felled a few more! When the tanks started to barrage again the Ultra in charge called in a plasma shelling of the forests edge. Wraiths, ensconced in the forests foliage began to fire. With that the Elites began to fall back. However, one of them looked back long enough to see the full army come up over the ridge and proceed towards them. Now the enemy would follow them into the forest and fall right into their trap.

As the GA troops began to enter the forest the Supreme Commander smiled to himself. He passed the message of a successful manoeuvre to the Elite Majors and Minors who were in the forest awaiting battle. In their disguised trenches and hiding places the Covenant troops smiled grimly. The enemy would never know what hit them!

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Now for a real battle, tune in next chapter.


	9. Chapter 9

I hope the battle lives up to expectations.

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Dozens of troops crept through the forest, their heads bent to the ground, avoiding presenting their profile at all times. During the previous day, they had been hit several time by snipers who fired their lethal rifles with unerring precision. One shot for instance had flipped the helmet off one of the sergeants when he attempted to look over a tree stump. He had ordered his troops to throw grenades but the resulting explosions had not revealed anything. Now the 720th battalion had to press through the forest and try to locate a safe LZ for some reinforcement troops to be airlifted in. They crept through the forest, keeping as quiet as was physically possible for them to do. Keeping their guns trained ahead they stole through the foliage.

A few hundred metres ahead of them, a Major Elite watched them from his hidden position. With a feral grin he turned to his fellows.

"Prepare."

Grunts activated their pistols, Elites fired up their plasma rifles and carbines. They sat in silence.

The troopers began to sense something was wrong. The sounds of the forest creatures had long since stopped. The lieutenant stopped for a moment and gave a hand signal. Instantly his troops dropped to their bellies in the leaves.

The Major was impressed. They were fully trained soldiers these ones and they would be quite capable of putting up a fierce fight. However they would have to advance and he would give the order then.

The lieutenant could not hold his troops here forever. He signalled them to move forward in skirmish manoeuvrings. They began to hop form tree to tree, first one, then the other, always in pairs. They slowly but surely approached the Covenant positions!

The Major kept his eyes peeled and awaiting the point where they would cross the lines that marked the fire zone. One more step, he thought.

In front of the GA troops there was a sudden explosion of earth as the trench coverings were thrown back! Two levelled, the trenches had a ledge for the shorter Grunts to stand on while the Elites stood in the centre, deeper step. The Grunts leaped up on their step and began to fire and the Elites behind them added to the chaos with their own rifle and carbine fire! The first troopers in the lead collapsed in the hail of plasma bolts, but the rest dived for cover and soon laser bolts were also crisscrossing the divide! A minor Elite was lucky as a bolt impacted on his shields and they dissipated it, but a Grunt beside him was not so fortunate. The next shot blew his head off!

"No!" several of the other Grunt screamed in their high pitched voices. Plasma grenades were hurled. One trooper had three hit him and they stuck. He collapsed screaming and exploded, energy from the explosives blasting several other troopers. The Major Elite jumped down from his perch and landed in the trench. A return grenade from the GA landed farther down in the trench and exploded! This time the Elite Shields were not enough, they collapsed and the proton fire consumed both him and several Grunts under his command!

"Brothers and friends, we are taking the fight to them! Attack!" the Major shouted.

With a roar the Elites led the charge as they jumped out of the trenches and charged! Behind them the Grunts followed suit, slower however, due to their stature. Headlong they rushed the GA lines. The troops were astounded and only a few managed to get off shots. One bolt made its way through the shields of an Elite and he grunted. The next second the lines clashed! At this close of range the GA troops shouldered their rifles and pulled out their vibroblade knives! The Elites had no such need of weapons! They just clubbed with their guns! Even the Grunts would swarm an enemy and bludgeon him to death! Point blank range shots hissed around them! The Elite Major went right for the nearest enemy and crashed into him bodily! As they rolled across the ground the Elite picked him up by the scruff of the neck and threw him at a tree! The crunch as he hit it was enough to convince the Elite. He turned back to the fray. A trooper slashed the legs of an Elite and he went down. The troopers then fired a few shots into him a point blank range. A thrown knife hit a Grunt in the throat! A proton grenade blew seven Covenant to blazes! A plasma grenade minced four troopers! An Elite grabbed up a dead man's weapon as he broke his rifle on him. The laser bolts from the carbine began to add to the confusion of the melee.

Eventually the two sides broke apart and began to retreat back to their own lines! Dodging from side to side they weaved and rolled out of range, into cover and finally back to their own lines. The GA troopers retreated to a safe distance and began to radio in for help! They were going to need to secure the location and dig in if they were going to assault properly!

"We need turrets and barriers to make a temporary stockade to withstand counter attacks and to use as a base of operation!"

"Stay put 720, support is en route. Do not engage the enemy any further unless it is their attack! Repeat Do not engage!"

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More battle to follow. Leave a review if you liked this.


	10. Chapter 10

My apologies for the delay, and my thanks for the reviews.

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The Supreme Commander looked at the list of information that was in front of him. Some parts were pleasing, others not. The particular snippet was good. The rangers were in position for battle and his Wraith and Ghost groups were also ready for battle. Better yet was the information that the rest of his ships that had gone to Nelvaan to repair had been successful. He still awaited news of how the other groups of ships had done in their endeavours. Battle had been joined in the forest. Soon it would be time to abandon the outer trenches and moved to the second line trenches. There they would prepare for a larger battle. He raised the Field Master on the battle net.

"Field Master, how goes the battle on the front lines?"

"Well, Supreme Commander. We have repulsed many assaults."

"Good Field Master, we are right on plan."

Down at the trenches, the GA had launched another attack! Coming through the trees silently they suddenly opened fire from any hiding point that they might get! The Grunts in this section of the wall returned fire as best they could! Any dead were instantly dragged from the step and left empty. The Elites farther down held their fire, waiting for the moment when it would be best. As another Grunt fell with a thud, the Elite Ultra gave the command! Springing up the Elites added their own rapid blue Plasma Rifle fire to the green pulses of the Grunts Plasma Pistols. Two or three Elites also had blaster rifles and wielded them one handed as well as their own weapons and the two weapons made a lethal combination! One plasma shot blasted through the armour on one trooper, just as his sustained fire broke the shields and pierced the skin of an Elite Major! Carbine fire from the Elites also made for lethal madness in the pitched battle! Suddenly there came a cry from the GA side and they retreated into the shade of the forest.

Back a safe distance from the front lines the GA had set up a base of operations and they were preparing for a dangerous move. The 12th Commando had arrived, with their special armour, carbines, scatterguns and their extreme level of training. They were going to breach the trench line and break through. It would be a close quarters fight, but these troops were up to it. They were all different species as well and they had several wookiees which would annihilate the Elites when they went head to head. Their commander was taking to the Colonel in charge of the combat theatre.

"Here would be the best spot to breach."

"Got it. Once we're in we go right down the trenches until we can make a big enough hole."

"Right. Give the signal and my boys will be there to provide back up and to keep the hole open. These aliens will fight almost to the death it seems although we may be mistaken about that."

The Bothan Commander smiled. "Perfect. We wish them both the same thing then."

The Elites often took watch so that they could let the more easily tired Grunts rest and build back up their strength. Neither species had any illusions, they needed each other to survive.

Through the darkness the 12th slipped like wraiths. Bothans, Humans, Twi'leks, Wookiees, Adarians and a few Duros. They closed in on the target, silent, lethal and seriously camouflaged.

The Ultra Elite in charge of this particular section of line was surprised by the arrival of a Zealot! He clapped his fist to his chest as befitted a soldier of his rank.

"Sir, you strengthen us with your presence!"

"A worthy greeting Ultra. You are a wise commander. Good also that you kept your voice low. The Field Master believes that we may have a serious battle on our hands within the next few days. These Galactic Alliance troopers are probably going to try to breach our defences. Vigilance is needed."

"Indeed honoured sir. Will your sword be with us?"

"Yes."

The Commandos sneaked up to the nearest sentry, a quick slice of a vibroblade and the lifeless body of the Elite fell back with a slight thud!

That was enough for the next sentry who was coming to speak to his friend.

"Brothers!" came the call.

Instantly the Elites woke and personal lights lit themselves as the Covenant prepared for combat! The Commandos sprang into action. Their carbines began to stutter as they fired into the trenches and ran deeper in. The Zealot and the Ultra fired up their weapons and leaped down! The energy sword glowed in the darkness, making the need for a light unnecessary! Blast of plasma pierced the darkness and ripped into the attacking commandos other screams down the line indicated the infiltration was huge. Scattergun blasts also punctuated the night air and their shots kicked Grunts aside and stripped the shields off Elites in one blast! Even worse were the ionizer pistols that some troopers carried. Shields and electrical systems failed as they hit. Instantly vulnerable elites staggered around before they were blasted by at least six commandos. A wookiee tore a Grunt limb from limb and hurled him away! It's punch sent an Elite sailing! On the other side the Zealot came face to face with a wookiee and rammed his sword deep into the wookiees flesh! It burned through fur and bone to the heart and the wookiee died! Energy Swords were incredible weapons, almost as dangerous as a lightsaber and just as powerful an image! The Grunts rallied around the Zealot and charged back! A charged blast from a pistol whipped a wookiee out of the way in a second. It was at this point in the battle that a favoured weapon of the Covenant became apparent, the Needler! Pink energy needles ripped through armour and lodged before exploding! For the first time the GA troops could admire the brutal efficiency of the Covenant in full wrath! One of the Elites picked up a scattergun and its charges. Loading it, he took it into battle and quickly realised its potential!

But the battle was shorter than expected. The call came over the battle net from the Field Master himself!

"Abandon the trenches for the second line!"

The Elites instantly bean a fighting retreat whilst the Grunts fled. They had to get out of the trenches to get to the second line. For a moment it seemed that their backs would be exposed to the fire of the commandoes and the troopers who were coming to assist them. But there was a diversion to keep the occupied. Out of the night sky came the howl of the Banshees! Plasma fire ate into the trenches and Fuel Rod fire blasted chunks of earth and stone into the air in great gulps! When the aerial bombardment had subsided the Covenant were gone! Sniper fire worried the GA for the rest of the night.

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Will be expanding on the other planetary assaults in the future. Please leave reviews


	11. Chapter 11

Thanks for all reviews. Unfrotunately the Sangheili are taking a break for this chapter (except in their obvious command role). The action switches to the Grunts who will be in the battle front for this chapter. Also we have moved to Tatooine. Now you know why it's Grunts being the main force, it's the heat they crave!

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Out of Slipspace came a fleet of_ CCS_ cruisers. On board was an invasion army. It was headed straight towards planet that was covered in sand. On board the lead ship was a newly promoted Fleet Master. He had been a Ship Master until his own Fleet Master had been promoted by unanimous agreement of the Ship Masters and Field Masters to assume the role of the Supreme Commander of the Fleet of Divine Intervention. The previous Supreme Commander had been lured on board the dying _High Charity_ and slain by a villainous Brute. Now all had changed. Those who were worthy of the honour had been elected to the roles of command, including himself. His actions must have garnered more notice than he thought. Sitting in the command chair he looked up at the planet in front of him and cast his mind back to the day when the abominations had gotten aboard _High Charity_ and the Brutes had tried to commit genocide. Absolute chaos had reigned for some time until Elite Ship Masters had finally extricated themselves from both the genocidal Brutes and the Flood attacks and rallied around a Supercarrier Flagship and flee. Now here they were.

Here was a planet called Tatooine. Twin Suns were able to turn the planet into a roasted barren sandy wasteland. A planet of the Outer Rim, it was a sparsely populated place, few centres of occupation. Much of it was unoccupied and consisted of masses of sand. The atmosphere was breathable, but lacked the methane that his forces craved. For His fleet had been stripped of Elites, except those necessary to command, and the ground forces were entirely composed of Grunts. It had made certain things somewhat strange, speaking to Grunt commanders. Spec Ops Grunts had been elevated to these roles. They would be better at handling themselves under pressure. The Elites remained however in the roles that only they could do. Banshees were piloted by them, they commanded the Field and the Fleet roles. All Ship Masters were Elites, but the Grunts took charge elsewhere. For the first time the Grunts were being elevated to command roles. Now in their favourite environment, they had a chance to prove it.

Down out of the sky they came, like a powerhouse of military might! The first Spirit dropships landed outside the main city and all across the planet, every major population centre. The Grunts in command stepped out, the Elite Field Master with them.

"Use Ghosts. Cut off all supply routes. If they can fight us, it will be here!"

"As you command sir!" The stocky little Unggoy began to bark out orders in their own language. The heat was agreeing with them. Jumping into their Ghosts, the diminutive figures all careened off into the sand. From behind the Field Master dozens of Phantoms began their attack, escorted by dozens of Banshees.

In the city of Mos Eisley the people went around their daily business, going to the shops, picking up cargo, gathering items that they couldn't get anywhere near their home, hiring spacers to get them off the planet. Suddenly there came a howl! On the outskirts the people looked out across the sea of sand. Billowing clouds began to show that lots of things were coming closer. Over the billowing sand came specks in the sky that began to grow larger.

The Grunt sergeant saw the city starting to rise out of the horizon in front of him. With a signal of his stubby hand the wave of Ghosts increased their speed to maximum. Over head the first attack wave of Banshees howled into their full speed!

People began to flee as the shapes became clearer. Some of the more violent of the criminal population began to open fire on the attacking Ghosts. The response was a flurry of plasma bursts that chewed everything in their path to rubble! Then the Banshees attacked. As people ran for their homes to take cover the attacking wave began to target vehicles! Blast after blast of plasma ripped apart the lightly constructed speeders. The Supreme Commander had stressed that civilian casualties were to be kept to a minimum, if possible, unless fired upon. Fire had been exchanged but the Banshees had decided to keep heads down by blasting transports.

Following the Banshees came the Phantoms, packed full of Unggoy troops. Swooping in, they halted over LZ's that had already been transmitted to them from the Flagship which was coordinating the attack. Once they paused for even a moment, the Grunts leaped down via the side ramps and the grav lift.

As the Ghosts and Wraiths, both commanded by the Grunts, entered the city a small group of Grunts were patrolling the streets. A cantina door burst open revealing a Rodian male with a Rawk chopper gun. The scatter blast killed two of the Grunts, but the rest immediately took cover!

"Do you guys know whose planet you're messing with! You guys are all kriffing DEAD!"

Another blast hit the top of the barrels one of the Grunts was sheltering behind! He looked over at one of his cohorts and nodded. His fellow began to charge his pistol. The Rodian kept blasting! One of the other Grunts fired off a quick shot that grabbed his attention. As he turned the Grunt with the charged pistol jumped up and fired! The blast cracked him on the arm and blew it off! The Rodian crashed to the ground with a screamed curse!

The Grunt squad came out from behind the cover, keeping their pistols trained on the downed enemy. The sergeant came over to where the Rodian lay wheezing.

"Whose planet is it?"

With a snarl the Rodian said, "The Hutts own this place, they will take a vicious revenge on you for this. You're all dead!"

With a cocky grin behind his respirator the Grunt replied.

"It's our planet now! Let them try to take it back!"

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A cookie for anyone who can guess the inspiration for the last fight. Let me know what you think by reviewing.


	12. Chapter 12

The GA began to throw huge amounts of weapons fire at the trenches back on Naboo. All day and all night, small attacks perforated the darkness and worried the Covenant incessantly. What happened next though threw the battle back in the Covenants favour.

The Supreme Commander kept his eyes zoomed and focused on the tree line ahead of him. The last thing he needed was a sneak attack and things to get out of his control. The GA forces were pressing ahead and gaining more ground, but only at the rate he allowed. The last thing he needed was a repeat of the night when the GA had attacked ahead of his expectations. Ahead of them, but not completely unexpected. His troops already had their response to such a situation. Now he felt he needed a new ploy to bring the battle back on his side. There must be no chance of failure. Now was the time for him to unleash his greatest ally. His Rangers and Stealth units.

In the midst of the trees plasma and laser fire was being rapidly exchanged. The blue, green and red streaks cut through the dense undergrowth like hot knives through butter! The GA did not try frontal assaults anymore, they knew they would be far more costly than was wise. Instead they attacked using the infiltration methods. But the aliens always seemed to be ready for them. The troops had yet to figure that the Sangheili had activated their motion sensors and were prepared for combat with minutes of warning. What made it worse in some eyes was the fact that they could hardly advance without having their heads sniped off by snipers who were everywhere! Taking the trenches off the alien defenders was a good idea, but there was always several hundred metres between the next line and the one they were sheltering by. Suddenly, in front of them the fire stopped. The troops could just about hear the sound of a transport flying overhead and holding it's position. Reinforcements! They braced themselves.

A curious whooshing noise filled the suddenly quiet forest. A whooshing that grew louder! Out of nowhere an Alien landed right in front of a trooper and walloped him with his weapon! All around the squad aliens began to land and open fire. Blue streams of plasma ate into the squad and they were decimated. Any that were still alive after the Rangers took off again were finished by unseen foes!

The Stealth Elites activated their camouflage and began their assault. Ahead of them, the Rangers finished their attack and roared off back to their Phantoms. Silent as wraiths the Stealths ran. Several troopers had been left alive by the Rangers and the Elites activated their swords! One trooper saw the motion just before the blades ignited before his eyes and chopped him in half! On the Elites ran. The Field Master had given them direct orders to get to the next trench as fast as possible and be the spearhead of the counter attack!

The trench was dimly lit, but the sentries stayed away from the lights. If they wanted to be able to see on a night like this, then they didn't need their night vision ruined. A single kaleesh guard was on duty when he noted a noise. Instantly he prepped his gun and prepared for an attack! Nothing. Perhaps he was mistaken, but there was an odd smell in the air. He continued to look around carefully, expecting the unexpected. What he was not expecting suddenly slashed through his throat, leaving him no time to scream!

Across the woodland they came! Racing like the break of dawn! Silent as a snake, the great mass of Covenant troops attacked. With the sentries dead by the Stealth Elites hands, the Covenant quickly incapacitated the rest of the trench. They did not kill, merely stunned and took prisoner, for the Supreme Commander had demanded prisoners and information! The next trench had not been so easy. One of the sentries had noticed a dead comrade and sent out 

the call for aid. In seconds the Rangers were all over the trench! When the stealth Elites attacked as well, there was chaos! Following them at a run came the rest of the Covenant army! They crashed through the trench and attacked at speed! In minutes the GA was retreating.

Miles away, the reports began to trickle in. Aliens attacked in huge numbers and drove their way deep into Alliance territory. In the command centre lone figure stood listening to the news with a grim face. The Jedi Knight turned and left the bunker


	13. Chapter 13

Thanks to all reviewers. No battle this time and a proper Covenant battle with Scarabs and city combat is coming, I can say that.

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Shola! A volcanic planet that sent plumes of acrid fumes into the sky, looking like the pictures of the human Hell. Nevertheless, it was a safe planet, hot and carrying huge supplies of methane gas, perfect for the Grunt army that occupied it. Better yet, it had no orbital defences, and hardly any population. A good place to send an army, a better place to hide a fleet. Completely inconspicuous and easy to defend. Landing sites were hard to get and safe landing sites even harder. The Grunts dug in their defences and prepared. Regardless of the number of other species here, they needed to be in a good place of defence. Bunkers were installed, Grunts promoted. Here in their own environment, they thought clearly, and their bodies loosened up. For so many of the Unggoy units, they had gone for so long without the heat of their own environment. Now they were back, and they would crush any who tried to take it from them.

Fondor. It was a strange name for a planet, but then again all planets here in this galaxy were strangely named. It was here that the next major attack would take place. The Supreme Commander had already gotten in touch with the Fleet master. Divergence would have to take place soon, they were destroying troops at a high rate. Any longer and they would have an armada bearing down on them. Tatooine and Shola had been permitted, because they were sparsely populated and would be easier to gain control of without actually drawing too much attention to themselves. A gift from the gods obviously. They could be captured and taken and used as back up planets with supplies and a safe haven after battle.

"But," the Supreme Commander said the Fleet Master of this attack group, hiding out near Nelvaan, "We need a shipyard. From what our intelligence sources have uncovered this particular planet is a major industrial centre. For that purpose I have given you leave to attack with all the forces at your disposal! Batter any orbital defences into ash, pummel any ground forces they send against you and do so quickly! They will surely send a Fleet after you. If I have to come to assist, then I will."

"Supreme Commander, would it not be simpler to just glass the planet and leave it a ruin whilst we seize the shipyards in peace?"

The Supreme Commander clenched his jaw visibly. "Do not talk like that! Use glassing as a threat, never an action! If you do then it is quite possible that we will be annihilated! Our very survival depends on the mercy of our enemies if we succeed or if we fail! If we do not take this planet, we will be put on the reverse. Our losses will only add incumbence to our fleet. I have risked much in this, so have we all, and I will not fail!"

The Fleet Master bowed his head. "Very well Supreme Commander. I will obey your orders to the letter!"

Back on Naboo the Supreme Commander rested his head in his hands. This was a gamble, all war was, a gamble he was forced to take. The entire fate of his fleet rested on his ability to capture strategic planets and hold them, whilst also demonstrating the tenacity of his troops. What was worse was that he held the fate of his people in his hands. These hands, which were so inexperienced and, he hated to admit it, fearful! All of his troops had been dismissed except for his Hunter guardians. They pacified him. When he felt the weight of responsibility crashing down on his shoulders, he could take solace in their implacability. But it was here, far from the eyes of all that he could drop his pretence. He let out a low moan. He hadn't slept in almost a week! No sleep at all! Most of his species would consider this weak, but it was more than just the sleep. There were so many things weighing on his mind, they were crushing his will. If it was just him commanding his own ship, or a fleet, like he had done so before, then it would be an easy burden. But here, with so many lives resting on his decisions he could ill afford the weight of his hopes and fears. Their recent successes had given his people a great resolve, but any future defeats could easily crush that. He had a battle to win, then a war. He straightened as he remembered the words of a great commander he had always admired. "To be a leader, one must be prepared to make the greatest sacrifices of all. To be a commander, is to be alone. Regardless of your command size or importance, your decisions must be made and you must stand by them!"

Those words gave him hope. Standing the Supreme Commander steeled himself and settled his cloak better over his shoulders. Now by the gods! As he returned tot eh surface he received a message.

"Yes Field Master?"

"Commander, there is a soldier here who wishes to speak with you."  
Upon his return to the base, the Supreme Commander noted the human. He was unarmed except for a bar of metal by his side and was alone. The Field Master had escorted him here alone and the Supreme Commander motioned for his Hunter guardians to remain on the Phantom. He eyed the man warily and noted with admiration that the human was doing the same.

"He asked for a meeting with you and a temporary truce, appealing to our honour. I granted it Supreme Commander."

"I hope that you do accept a meeting under honour bound oath." The human added.

The Supreme Commander examined him. This human seemed fairly average by human physiology and build. Having said that the Supreme Commander could sense a power radiating off him and a brightness around the eyes that was not feigned.

"We are a people of great honour, human, what is it you wish to speak of?"

"I challenge you to a single combat."

All the Sangheili in the area froze. This human had just challenged the Supreme Commander to a single combat!

"Well?" the human challenged.

"I will accept your offer. The terms?"

"If I win, you will surrender without a fight."

"And?"

"If you win, then I will not demand your surrender."

"That is hardly just." The Supreme Commander replied as there were angry muttering around the clearing. The human tilted his head.

"You are hardly in a position to demand anything."

Inwardly the Supreme Commander allowed himself some satisfaction. "Done. You may choose the time and place."

The human was taken aback. This was not in the plan. "The streets of Theed, the capital."

"Very well. No troops save a personal escort. I have a treaty with the inhabitants of the planet."

"Agreed."

As the Jedi turned to go, the alien called after him. "What do they call you human?"

"A Jedi Knight."

"Good. Then you may address me as the Supreme Commander."

As the Jedi left aboard his personal speeder he thought about the conversation. He clicked on his comm.

"He fell for it."

"Another species like that."

"Yes, they think it a matter of personal pride that they agree to single combat. I hope this works. We could prevent a huge loss of life on both sides."

"True, but then we would have a new problem."

"It'd be better than this one."

The Supreme Commander reflected on the conversation. Jedi! His spies had told him of these beings. Highly respected, hence his visit. He would have power. His defeat would perhaps influence things somewhat. He prepared for all eventualities, and as he punched in the code for a general address to all ships in his fleet, he reflected on the person who had said those famous words he had thought of earlier. The Supreme Commander of the Fleet of Particular Justice, the current Arbiter. What was his fate?

* * *

Thanks again. The one on one battle with a Jedi will be next chapter. Please review.


	14. Chapter 14

In his personal chambers, the Supreme Commander removed his ornate violet armour and began to prepare himself for the task ahead. A hand to hand battle with a Jedi. They were supposed to be great warriors so the Supreme Commander considered that it may not be good for him to be overconfident in this endeavour, rather to hold himself back somewhat. He was a Zealot! A Sangheili swordsman, and he would not fall prey to overconfidence. Until he had fought and defeated this opponent, he would consider him a grave threat! He knelt and began to apply the oils to his body. These oils carried a balm in them that would minister to his joints and his muscles. Sinking into his skin they would quickly reach the muscles beneath the skin and provide a release of tension. They also kept his body warm, thus allowing him to move at maximum speed and agility.

But the oils served a secondary purpose in all of this, rather than just being entirely focused on their medical abilities. They also helped him to focus. The application required a steady hand and an attention to detail. Focused completely as he was on this, he could take his mind off the wider issue and completely acknowledge the battle ahead. It would not be a battle of armies or fleets, it would be a battle that would be between two people. One a soldier of the galaxy, the other a soldier of the Covenant. Could he win in a one on one fight? He did not doubt his prowess, he was well trained and certainly skilled for his age, but for the first time, his opponent was an unknown quantity. He had the advantage. The Supreme Commander could feel himself mentally preparing, cutting away all the outside thought and care, narrowing his mind down to combat. It had been an age since he had last fought by hand and not by mind. He remembered the last time,

_The Brute Chieftain had driven the hilt of his Gravity Hammer deep into the skull of his chief of signals and had charged forward. Now he knew why the Brute had been sent to his ship, not to do the Prophets will, but to kill him! An assassin. The Brutes ugly face was twisted into an insane grin. He could finally kill the whelp he hated so much! Even as the Chieftain got to the Fleet Master he jumped sideways out of reach! With a crackle his Energy Sword burned to life in his right hand. His left was held up in a signal which meant he claimed the Brute for himself. As the two charged one another the Elite sprang and twisted, slashing with the sword, even as the Brute swung. When the Elite landed on the other side, the Brute crumpled up and fell, his head vivisected! The Fleet Master ordered his men to destroy the Brute attackers._

That had all been before this development. Now he was to fight another battle one on one, with an unknown opponent. The Supreme Commander knew that the unknown quantity always had the advantage. It would be a measure of his skill to defeat this Jedi. Still he remembered the Jedi's words, You are in no place to demand anything. They didn't know about the other Fleet's then. The last piece of his armour was placed upon his mandibles and he straightened as he took his helmet off it's stand an put it on his head. He was ready.

Theed main street. The Jedi was already there with two wookiee commandos accompanying him. The Supreme Commander approached in a Phantom. He descended from the Phantom via the gravity lift, accompanied only by his Hunter bodyguards. As he walked up to the Jedi he could see that the wookiees on either side of him growled softly at the Hunter, and the giant's simply looked back at them.

"It's good to see that you came, alien. I hope you are ready?" the Jedi asked.

"More than ready human. Do you wish for a moment to gather your senses?"

The human smiled. "I have no reason to try to re-gather my senses. I like them expanded."

This was a most perplexing speech, but the Supreme Commander shrugged it off. "Very well."

He dropped his cloak and in the same movement he drew his sword.

The Jedi saw the blade weapon and for a moment was surprised. This species looked like they had perfected thermal weaponry. But no matter, he ignited his sabre and the bodyguards backed away! The two combatants circled each other, each waiting for a breach in the others defences. No joy, they Elite moved with a grace that belied his dangerous nature and superior strength, the human with a casual movement caused by his faith in the Force. He immediately charged at his opponent and brought down his weapon! The weapon made a crashing sound as it impacted on the Elites blade as he brought it up to defend himself! To the Jedi's surprise the Energy sword held and for the first time the Jedi found that he couldn't break it! It was an energy weapon, just like his own, and as such could withstand a lightsaber! He tried to reach into the mind of his opponent to gauge his strategy, but all he could find was a blankness, a mind empty of everything and focused entirely on him!

In the next moment the Supreme Commander threw a punch to his stomach which hurled the Jedi back from him! Then the Elite went on the offensive! An overhead strike! A blow from the side! The Elite gave out careful measured strikes, as much to see the Jedi reaction as to try and tire his enemy. The Jedi met the blows with skilled movements and brought his own blows back against the Sangheili! The Supreme Commander was barely able to hold off the blows, they flew with such speed and ferocity. It was time for him to give more than he got! The Elite threw his full weight against the Jedi weapon and began to push him back! As the Jedi put two hands on the sword hilt, the Supreme Commander regretted not being able to wield his weapon two handed. He was knocked aside by the Jedi who jumped at him. The Elite kicked him off! The Jedi sailed to one side and went rolling across the ground as the Elite flipped back to his feet. The Elite began his assault with a series of lightning fast manoeuvres that caused the Jedi to retreat quickly to a back point! The Supreme Commander smashed his sword down on the lightsaber with pinpoint precision and strength!

"Hold!" cried the Jedi and the Elite halted. "A respite of three minutes?"

The Elite nodded and the two stepped apart and closed down their weapons.

The Supreme Commander walked over to where his two bodyguards waited in silence.

"He's very skilled. Now I know why they revere the Jedi so much, they are swordmasters, like us."

"_he is very skilled Sir."_ The Hunters said in their curious voices, both speaking as one as usual.

"Do you think I can best him?"

"_yes sir."_

A few feet away the Jedi was speaking into a comlink.

"He's good. Very good. I can't even use foresight on him, it works sometimes, but other times no. I wonder if he is Force sensitive, but that's just a theory. It is quite 

possible that I will die here. Be sure to inform the Grand Master of all that you have heard from me understand!"

"Yes Sir."

A couple of holonet crews on Naboo had already set up hidden cameras to watch the fight and through them the entire galaxy. The queen herself was watching from her rooms. Civilians had been forbidden from entering the square and security forces were holding the line around the entrances. No one was to disturb this fight, but the holonet crews were allowed to record. Everyone could therefore see what happened next. Combat was joined and the two combatants were hard at it. Suddenly there was a cry of pain from the Supreme Commander of the Fleet of Divine Intervention. He staggered back for a moment before a roar of rage overtook him and he charged! He crashed into the Jedi and they struggled incoherently for a moment or two. Then the Sangheili staggered back. As the Jedi ran at him he twisted, turned and sliced him in two!

The wookiees erupted in wrath and ran forward. The exhausted Elite slumped to the ground and even before the wookiee commandos got to him, the Hunters jumped in! The two wookiees lasted a total of a minute against the indefatigable Lekgolo and they hurriedly removed the Supreme Commander from the field of battle.

Later that day, the Supreme Commander, holding his left hand where the stumps of one of his thumbs and a forefinger remained, opened a channel to his entire fleet.

"All forces proceed with your orders! Today I slew a Jedi in hand to hand combat. That has earned us their hatred. Use all weapons we have, hold nothing back. This is the turning point for us, brothers, they will fall on us with a great wrath!"

On Coruscant, the GA High Command authorised the beginning of a full scale assault on the Covenant. The war had truly begun!


	15. Chapter 15

My thanks for all reviews! Here is the next chapter, please enjoy. More land battle coming up in later chapters. Oh by the way, I recommend listening to Blow me Away by Breaking Benjamin for the musical accompaniment of this chapter. I did while writing it.

* * *

All of a sudden, in the space near to the Fondor shipyards, a series of white circles of light began to appear. Dozens of them! Every single worker in the giant shipyard station, be they droid or organic stopped to look out at the curious occurrence. Then came the greatest shock of all. Out of the portals came a fleet of ships of unknown design! Even as the furious defence systems operators tried to work out what they were, they could find no trace of any such ships, the fleet opened fire! Even as they watched the first shots cascaded across the void towards them. With a crash the blasts impacted on shields, which mercifully held. Defensive fighters were scrambled and rushed to try to intercept the enemy. Halfway there they were met by larger, but just as deadly fighters!

As their first shots impacted on their targets the Fleet Master rejoiced to himself. Thye had good shielding, a fact that would make them a harder target to beat in the battle that was to come.

"Focus all our fire on that area, we should be able to punch through completely!"

Lateral lines heated as the battlecruisers fired their plasma torpedoes! Arcing through the void they impacted!

* * *

Onboard the defence platform, the sustained plasma fire cut through the shielding and ate into the armour. With a screech of twisted and tortured metal it gave way! Screaming defenders were hurled far and wide by the sudden wind. Others were fried to a crisp by the superheated gasses! With a groan, the entire structure shivered.

"Return fire at maximum power!" the station commander screamed to his gunners.

The huge turbolasers on the station began to sound! The attackers ships shields flared as the blast began to impact on them!

* * *

"Fleet Master, they are firing back! Shields are holding, but at this rate of barrage they will overwhelm the shields in less than five minutes."

The Fleet Master acted quickly. "Use the Assault Carrier to get past the defences. Use an orbital insertion attack! Send Scarabs to aid until it can land other armour! The rest of the fleet, concentrate fire on that station!"

The Assault Carrier sped off. The Fleet Master had chosen to remain at his post onboard his own _CCS_ battlecruiser, it had been his former command and he would not be removed from it.

"Engage the enemy more closely!"

* * *

The Station Commander saw the battleships get closer, whilst the dreadnaught raced off towards the planet.

"Try to hit the dreadnaught, secondary cannons open fire on the other ships that are attacking."

The heavy turbolasers opened fire on the speeding dreadnaught. Across its hull the shields caught the bolts and flared as they spattered across it. However they held and the dreadnaught got out of range and into the atmosphere! The commander focused back on the rest of the attacking fleet. "Fire on that ship that's attacking. Focus all torpedo batteries on it as well! We'll take that thing down!"

* * *

"Ship Master, are you sure this is a good idea."

"We need to breach their defensive line, Chief Navigator. There is no other alternative. Full ahead!"

"But the forward shield is beginning to collapse under the pressure Ship Master."

The young Ship Master steadied himself against the rail as the blast rocked the ship.

"Status!" he barked.

"Hull breach near the main hanger bay. Huragok are already fixing it sir!" snapped back the Ultra in charge of the shields. "Mid shields are down sir!"

The Ship Master turned to the weapons officer. "Charge the fore Energy Projector. As soon as the fore shield fails, fire it into their heart!"

"This is madness Ship Master!" cried the Navigator.

"We need this shipyard Navigator! Our survival depends on it!" the Ship Master retorted. "If we need to die so that others may live, then that is what we have joined to do." He returned his gaze to the fore screens. "May the Gods grant us grace for what is about to happen." He said to himself.

* * *

The Station Commander saw the ship coming straight for them. "Is it going to ram us?"

"No Commander, but I'm reading an energy spike towards the front of it sir!"

"Bring it down!"

As he watched the ships shields ceased to flare and flickered out of existence. The laser fire began to strip chunks off the ships prow! Then to his amazement he saw a light begin to gather at the tip of the ship. Then a huge beam lanced forward and hit the control room full on! Everything vanished in bright light!

* * *

The Ship Master could sense his ships death even as he slumped to the floor of the command desk. Thousand were fleeing his ship, especially the Huragok, the vital engineers he had ordered to do so. His hunter guardians waited patiently for the end, as did the entire bridge crew.

"You don't have to sacrifice yourselves for my sake!" he urged them, "Go! Save yourselves for the next battle."

"With all due respect Ship Master," a tall Sangheili Zealot replied, "our place is here, by the side of our Commander."

The Ship Master smiled. "Thank you!"

The Sangeheili clasped their arms to their chests. "It's been an honour sir." Stated the Zealot and all the Sangheili cheered even as the torpedoes of the vengeful fighter-bombers smashed into the ships reactor and it blew beneath their feet.

* * *

A flotilla of small ships fled the doomed cruiser. Most of them were boarding craft. Onboard, hundred of troops headed straight for the shipyards. Unnoticed by the defences, who thought they were lifeboats, they slipped right into the vicinity of the shipyards, unnoticed. On board the lead ship was a Zealot warrior.

"We will not let our Masters death be in vain brothers! We will capture this place for the honour of their memory!"

* * *

Fondor was a huge industrial centre. It was here that the first Executor class dreadnaught had been built by Darth Vader himself. Still heavily urbanised, the people of the planet looked up at the first indicator of trouble. A huge explosion blotted out the sun for a moment! They immediately realised what it was! An attack! Screaming they began to run for cover, even as the huge dreadnaught ripped down from the sky. Some of the sterner one managed to look at their attackers briefly. They saw the ships slow, slow down until it was travelling at a leisurely pace. Then they saw a strange sight. Down from the sky came thousand of bright specks, so many that they fell like rain!

* * *

I feel that I may regret killing that young Ship Master, he could have gone places as a character. But that is war. Anyway, next chapter, Scarabs in action for all those who have onged to see it!


	16. Chapter 16

As usual, my thanks for all reviews. Now for a battle complete with Scarabs! For any who want to know, I have designed it so that the Covenant fleet is able to fire more powerful blasts from their guns, while the GA weaponry is faster firing, thus evening the two sides out somewhat. Sorry for overuse of exclamaiton marks in the last chapter, I'll try to cut down for this one.

* * *

Trailing blue-white fire the specks hit the ground. They smashed through the permacrete covering the earth of the planet and stuck there! Now any who gazed upon them could see that they were oddly shaped missiles, pointed yet tapering to a flat end which contained several recesses for thrusters. With a hiss, the nearest one to one of the watchers, snapped open at the tail! In a sudden movement the door was flung aside and out jumped a tall alien with a rifle in his hands! Covered in white armour the alien was almost two metres tall and roared aloud in the basic language, "To arms brothers!"

The militia barracks of the city sector was in an uproar. In their rooms and in their canteen the troopers had been watching the hand to hand battle on Naboo with great interest. The uproar started when they saw the taller alien bisect the Jedi with one swing of his sword! What had scared them more were the huge creatures that had torn the two wookiees to pieces afterwards!

"No frakin way man!"

"Oh fusst! We are in deep sithspit if those things are going to hit the galaxy!"

"Relax people." The lieutenant called from the door of the canteen. "They are only on Naboo and the army has been given the order to fully mobilise and to attack with all haste. That fight is the reason none of those fighters are going to live very long!"

There was a cheer from the group.

* * *

The main gate to the complex exploded! Showers of red hot metal and pieces of machinery fell all around the barracks even as the men came scrambling out to try to determine the origin of the disaster. What they saw terrified them. A huge walker was assaulting their base! On four legs, looking like a giant tapani spider as it pounded its way through the streets of the city hundreds of people running screaming before it! With a shout the militiamen sprang into action. Running to and fro they began to gather weapons and armour for the upcoming battle. The walker fired a stream of energy towards their walled barracks and the walls cracked under the heat and pressure! The back mounted cannons began to spew heavy fire at positions where people had begun to return the fire of the invaders!

Even as the desperate soldiers of the Fondor militia tried to gather their wits for combat, the footsoldiers of the invasion hit them at speed! Dozens of Elites wielding carbines and plasma rifles charged through the main gate, led by a sword wielding Zealot. Their clash was short, sharp and devastating. The Elites were long accustomed to fighting at close ranges with their weapons and dived from side to side, dodging and weaving and letting well placed plasma shots cut through their enemies. Overhead the first waves of Banshees were racing over the cityscape and letting their plasma shot and fuel rod fire chop any who were foolish enough to try and tackle them! The Zealot in charge ran at the nearest group of enemies and leaped into their midst. With one sword swipe he clove straight through armour flesh and bone with the superheated blade. With a roar he raised his weapon to the heavens in a cry of vicious victory!

Onboard the Type-47 Platform the Ultra in charge of it was watching the battle with wariness in his eyes. Scarabs were strong, but they could be destroyed. At the moment they were merely sending people running, a good tactic as they would outline anyone who was trying to tackle the Scarab in combat. But some desperate soldiers were firing like it would make a difference. A couple of weak bolts came from a street corner. The Scarab fired its main cannons and there was no street corner. He also kept an eye on the sky, any air attackers would be met with a lot of firepower from the upper secondary cannons. Down below the Scarabs feet hundreds of Elites ran through the streets effortlessly taking care of any potential threats. He sighed. It was only to be hoped that the orbital battle was going as well.

* * *

The space dockyard workers were the most surprised in the world when they felt the thuds of debris hitting the sides of their workplaces. A sound started to permeate the sides of this particular ship that they were working on. One of the welders placed his ear next to the wall and listened.

"What is it?"

"Sounds like a drill."

The next second a drill bit shot through the wall beside him! As they jumped back it suddenly had six drill bits come through after it. Then they all started to spin.

"Get some troops up here, this is the enemy!"

The hole completed the first of the Elites sprang through.

"Atmosphere!" one of them cried and they all hurriedly removed their ranger helmets.

"All units attack!"

When the troopers got there, there were already far too many for them to stop. Excelling in orbital battle the Elites tore through their opponents, giving them no time to recover and most importantly no time to re-gather. They sped straight down the walkways towards the next objective. Another Zealot led them and he paused to get on the battle net to his Fleet Master.

"Fleet Master, we who survived the death of the _Worthy Judgement _have taken several areas in the shipyards. We are as we speak taking the fight to the enemy. What are your orders?"

"Good work, noble Zealot. Tell your Elites to attack the command centres and if you can, try and disable their communications!"

"Fleet Master we cannot locate their command structures yet."

"They are the parts that stand above all else. These fools make their bridges visible to any enemy!"

The Battle net connection was cut and the Zealot looked at his troops. "All of my rangers, prepare for extravehicular activity!"

* * *

The second Golani defence platform was firing all guns in a desperate attempt to hold off the vanguard of the Elite fleet. Onboard the huge Assault Cruiser Mk IV under construction the infiltrating elites had quickly subdued all external resistance and were closing in on their targets. A couple of blaster bolts were fired at them, but needler shots hummed through the air before burying themselves in the soldiers upper torso. Accompanied by a scream, they detonated.

"This is the location, honoured brother."

"Excellent. Prepare for attack!"

The doors burs open and the Elites charged, only to find themselves unopposed. There were no soldiers here, but several humans were cowering behind a bank of instruments. The Elites surrounded them. The Ultra in charge of this group took it upon himself to interrogate him.

"Speak and your lives will be spared!" he bellowed in the face of one of the weaker looking ones. He had to suppress an impulse to grin. If these humans only knew that 

the Supreme Commander himself had decreed no civilian casualties, they would probably be braver. "I said speak!" he roared, smashing his fist into the floor beside him.

"I'll tell you anything you want to know, just please don't hurt me!" the human screamed.

"Then tell me how to pilot this ship!" the Ultra demanded looking up with a grin at his other troops. They all smiled along with him, knowing full well what panic it would create for the defenders to see one of their own ships come to assist, then shoot them in the back! This would alter the battle somewhat.

Even as this audacious plan was being undertaken, the Elites succeeded in collapsing the communications of the GA defences. Now for the table turning act.

Like it, find a few problems, please review and let me know. Sorry if the spacing seems a little odd. It's the only thing I could find that would work. Anyway, review, review, review!


	17. Chapter 17

Reviews are good. Thank you all for the positive feedback. I do appreciate constructive criticism. I will cut down on exclamation marks!

* * *

"Commander!" one of the sensor technicians onboard the Golani defence platform called out.

"What is it?"

"One of the Alliance Assault Cruisers Mk III under construction in the shipyard has activated its engines and is coming out into battle sir."

"Hail it!"

"We can't sir, our communications are down."

"Fussst! Alright, focus our fire on the ship nearest to them and try to hammer the shots into the hull, bring down the shields." He turned to one of the comm officers. "Did we get out the message to Coruscant before the comm. collapsed?"

"Yes sir. But if our databases are to be believed sir, this is the same group who are attacking on Naboo."

"They've gotten this far into the galaxy?"

"It seems so sir."

"Keep up the fire on those ships." He shouted to his gunnery coordinators. Then he turned back to the comm.. "Did you include that information, that it might be the same group?"

"Yes sir. I also sent them all our combat data. They took down the others shields very quickly."

As the two of them carried on this important conversation, the commander never noticed how close the Assault Cruiser came to the ship. No one else could notice it. The map officers were completely focused on the movements of the enemy fleet, not really noticing the movements of a "friendly" ship. They didn't notice until the ship started to open fire that is.

The Zealot captain of the Assault Cruiser had spent all the time it took his new ship to come across the gap between the platform and the shipyard, learning about his ship. He sent Elites running to the gunnery positions and prepared for combat. While he didn't like the setting of the bridge compared to a battlecruiser, he did appreciate the range of weapons available to him. Torpedo tubes, turbolaser cannons, blaster canons, and large hangers, were all important to him. After sitting down and running through them all the Zealot ordered the humans taken to a better location and kept under guard whilst they examined their new ship.

"After all they will be useful." He had said.

Now he stood on the bridge, an impromptu Ship Master at his first command. "Stand by." He ordered. Using the battle net he was able to communicate with the Fleet Master. "We are getting into position Fleet Master."

"Good. When you reach the optimum point, launch your attack."

"It will be done sir."

The connection closed. "All guns prepare to fire on my mark."

The Assault Cruiser closed in on its unsuspecting target. As they progressed the ship fired on a couple of Battlecruisers, not inflicting too much damage, dealing out shots that were widely spaced to dissipate them harmlessly. When asked, the Zealot replied, "Maintaining the image Ship Master."

Eventually they were in range. "Get in close." He ordered.

The ship began its close in manoeuvre. They will surely see us, the Zealot thought to himself, they must. We are far to exposed here. Inexplicably the ship reached the point of maximum penetration unscathed. Now was the time of true discovery.

"Fire!"

With a shudder the new assault cruiser fired its guns for the first time. The heavy turbolaser blasts smashed into the startled battle station. These were followed by dozens of plasma torpedoes which cut through the shields on the station and crashed through the hull. The turbolaser blast chewed away the metal and the station took heavy damage. But it was not dead yet. With all its power the station began to fire a full pelt towards one of the other battlecruisers. The entire fleet began to reply in a fusillade of heavy duty firepower. Slowly but surely, the station began to crumble, but in a measure of defiance which made the Covenant respect their enemies more, the defence platform continued to fire until it was utterly destroyed.

"Now brothers!" cried the Fleet Master.

The fleet split. The smaller group headed for the shipyards. There they would conquer it in three standard hours. The rest headed for the planet's surface. There they descended over the landing zones that the Assault Carriers troops had established. Then they instantly began to land troops all over the city. Dozens of Phantoms, Banshees, Ghosts and other vehicles descended on the city of Fondor. It belonged to the Covenant now.

* * *

Sorry it's short, but there wasn't much left of the Fondor battle. Naboo next.


	18. Chapter 18

I hope this is proof, Rtas, that I do intend to keep this up. And I must say that I am flattered by your comments. Yes the war is uneven, mostly in terms of resources. ZRC thank you for the review, ask and ye shall recieve. Just so you know, I've started another crossover story, Hal/Star Wars/Mass Effect/Predator/Aliens, but it will running secondary to this one, at least for the moment. It's called Beyond the Horizon, Beyond the Stars. Tis on my profile.

* * *

Out of hyperspace the armada came racing into the orbit of the planet Naboo. There would be no holding back when it came to these creatures. With the armada came almost sixteen Jedi, who were eager to try and bring some closure for their friends death. For the rest of the military aboard, they wanted nothing more than to annihilate the enemy. They had for the first time underestimated an enemy they believed to be their equal now. They were going to smash the invasion and restore order.

As the Fleet came into the atmosphere, the Supreme Commander suppressed a shudder of excitement. In that moment all his fears, all his apprehensions, were gone! This was what he lived for. This was the time, now was the time when the full might of the entire fleet he had at his disposal would be brought to bear on their attackers. As the full size of the fleet was relayed to him via the battle net he almost chortled with glee. They had sent the bulk of their fleet here! Meaning that his other endeavours had been successful. The Galactic Alliance was unaware of the threats that had been meted out. Correlia had yet to launch, and he had yet to give the order, something held him back. But here, when the time was right, he would give the signal and a fleet of at least thirty ships would come out of slipspace and engage the enemy! Coupled with the sudden increase in ground troops that he had been holding back all this time would come into battle, for the first time, hunters would be unleashed and they would crush all before them. It was just unfortunate that they had been seen by some inquisitive aliens during the battle with the Jedi. Doubtless the rest of the galaxy knew that they existed and it was up to him to bring things into play full time now!

"Field Master!"

"Yes Supreme Commander?"

"Evacuate all your troops from the forests as quickly as you can. The newcomers will undoubtedly bombard it. Besides I have news that they are planning to let "All hell go loose," or at least that's what the SpecOps troopers have told me."

"What does that expression mean?"

"I do not know brother, these human idioms are most distressing."

"It will be done sir."

The Supreme Commander shut down the connection and readied himself for the stress of command now that he was going to return to tactical command. The day or so rest had been beneficial to him as the GA awaited their reinforcements. Then he let his binocular vision zoom in to its full. The dust told him several things at once.

"Scramble all Banshees and Phantoms."

"As you command sir."

He opened the battle net to all who had ears to hear.

"Brothers, we are about to go forth into a deadly and dangerous battle with a foe who is almost our equal in this matter. I wish to inform you that I expect all of you to perform your duties to the best of your abilities."  
In Banshee cockpits as they prepared the Sangheili cheered and punched the air. As they boarded Phantoms to evacuate the forest they listened as it was broadcast over the intercom. Even the diminutive Grunts looked up at the voice.

"However I must inform you that this will be the most difficult battle of our lives, that we will be pushed to the brink by the hardest of foes, that we will be pounded by the hammers of our enemies. But we must not break! Even as we speak our forces have conquered shipyards and have seized essential raw materials for our forces. We will prevail in the long term brothers, we will have our sucession!"

Later that day, when the evacuation had almost finished, the forests of Naboo were bombed by the K-wing bombers of the Seventh Fleet. Four entire companies were wiped out, despite the best efforts of the Banshee fighter wing. Then SPMA-T walkers began to pound what was left of the forest with heavy laser blasts. There were no Covenant troops there to destroy. They had all withdrawn beyond the forest boundries. Why the GA never discovered them will never be explained, but that was when the Covenant began to fight what was considered their best environment, close quarters fighting in small groups. But still the Supreme Commander held them back. He had held this off as long as he could, but now the time had come! When the GA armour units began their assault, T-5 and T-7 tanks crawled across the ground, supported by AT-EE's, the All Terrain Escort Enforcers. The sight that greeted them was a shock to say the least. Hundreds of Wraiths were coming head on, most still bearing the paint and camouflage that had hidden them so well in the forest of Naboo. For the first time the Covenant had unleashed their hidden armoured divisions! Anti Air Wraiths also moved in. Ghosts shot alongside and in the background, the huge shape of a Scarab. It was time for a reckoning!

"Colonel, we're experiencing a serious amount of resistance here. Not only are we being attacked by tanks, we are also being attacked by some type of huge walker we've never seen before! Our speeder bike scouts are being torn apart by some other type of small personal speeders that have only been seen in limited numbers."

"Easy Commander, just give me a status report."

"Situation is bad sir. We've sent all our armour towards them, but their plasma weapons are incredible sir. We can barely hold them off sir. The shots curve around cover."

"Relax soldier, air support is en route."

"Negative on that too sir. They have their own, same type of weapons as the tanks sir. Some of the bolts are blue, others green. The green ones are a hell of a lot more destructive than the blues! They can cream a tank in seconds!"

"We have several troops speeders inbound Commander sit still and brace yourself. PLEX troops are with them."

"We need them as soon as possible sir. The T-5's are very effective against the big ones, but the walker is unstoppable! It fires a stream of energy from its mouth sir."

"Brace for impact!" screamed a voice in the background before the comm. winked out.

The Supreme Commander had not been idle whilst this had all been happening. This was only the first wave. He had already begun to send his troops towards the target zone, where they would highly effective in stopping any who got past. Grunts were armed with Fuel Rod Cannons and were placed all around the perimeter, while Elites with Beam Rifles and Carbines stood ready. As soon as the armour became too overwhelmed, they could retreat towards the safety of entrenched artillery. But it was when the PLEX soldiers arrived that he saw how dangerous his opponents were. The rockets these soldiers fired cut through his squadrons of Ghosts and ripped into his tanks, smashing shields and crushing hulls. Time to send out the call.

"Reinforcements!"

* * *

Diparancies in numbers will become more apparent as time goes by. For now the Covies are at full strength, near enough.


	19. Chapter 19

At last. I'm very sorry for my delay in getting this up here, but whenever I went to work I got distracted by Youtube. I know, my bad, but here it is at last. I am overwhlemed by the amount of viewings this story is getting, it is quite astonishing.

* * *

At his word, multiple slipspace ruptures began to form in the sky above the attacking fleet, some fifty ships. Out of the planets atmosphere came the fleet which had been in residence there. Both streams were going to attack from opposite sides. As the ruptures solidified, they released their makers from slipspace, all thirty six warships! No sooner had they exited their portals than lateral lines heated and plasma torpedoes were arcing towards the GA Fleet. Around them swarmed hundreds of Seraph fighters whilst thousands of Phantoms headed for the planet surface. The long awaited moment had arrived!

--

On the flagship, the Imperial II class Star Destroyer, combat scanning was going on at a furious pace.

"Sir we have picked up some thirty six new contacts on the boards sir, they just appeared off our bow!"

"Admiral sir, we have projected torpedo impacts in fifteen seconds."

"Brace for impact!"

The entire ship shook as the racing plasma impacted. The seven plasma shots smashed into the shields with the force of a scale four earthquake.

"Shields down to sixty percent sir, next shot will force it down again. Estimated damage cause by repeated barrage, total shield loss."

--

Onboard the Assault Carrier flagship of the Covenant the situation was somewhat different.

"We have total surprise Fleet Master."

"Excellent. Continue to focus all our fire on the largest ships in their fleet. We will bring them down!"

"However Fleet Master, we are experiencing difficulties with their fighters. One of our frigates is reporting that they have almost been destroyed by sustained fire from a squadron of fighters. Our forces hold their own, but we may have problems with them in future."

"A good report Ship Master."

"Fleet Master." He looked over at the Signals Ultra. "We are receiving a message from the Supreme Commander."

The face of the Supreme Commander appeared on the screen. "Good work Fleet Master. I will not stay long, we have our own problems down here, but I have come to give you a message from the Fleet Master at Fondor. Use the pulse lasers in close. They are highly effective, especially at close range."

"Thank you Supreme Commander, we will endeavour to do as you suggest."

"Good. I will be with you shortly."

--

"Admiral, another ship lost!"

"Send the corvettes in as close as possible and tell them to engage the enemy from the side, they seem to be focused on attacking from the front."

Suddenly a beam cut across the void between the fleets and smashed into one of the larger ships. In less than a minute of sustained fire its shields collapsed and the frigate was sliced almost in two from end to end! There was silence from the entire bridge. They watched almost helpless as more beams began to streak across the void. The admiral grabbed the comm..

"All ships begin evasive manoeuvres, avoid head on combat if at all possible and use your flank guns as much as possible. Try grouping shots together followed up by a couple of torpedoes, we may break their shields using that tactic."

"Admiral, more ships coming from the surface."

--

On the planets surface hundreds of Phantoms began to seed troops all over the battlefield. In one of the Phantoms, the Elite Major kept his eyes peeled and watching the battle below. Plasma mortars were landing all over the rear lines of the GA, which were countering with tanks of their own, and fast moving speeders ferrying troops into the battle at high speed, then acting as support batteries with their onboard cannons. His fellows were in the thick of the fighting, lethal laser fire causing problems for the energy shields of the Covenant. As he watched an Elite fell under the sustained barrage of a squad of soldiers. The Grunts under his command, stuck however and began their own counterattack, pistols firing as fast as they could. Another squad rushed to assist them. A Zealot was in the front with his sword, busy leading charges, with his shields flaring from so many hits. Ghosts nipped all over the field, cutting down troops with their lethal cannons which chewed their way through all attackers. And were themselves torn to shreds by the guided missiles of the PLEX rocket troopers. As the Major watched a rocket chased down a fleeing Ghost and hit it in a violent fireball. Beams from beam rifles scattered themselves across the field of battle, wherever they hit, troops would duck their heads and take cover. On the other side a tank fired and the blast punched a hole right through a Wraith. It vanished in a flare of exploding plasma.

--

The Phantom landed, and all the troops disembarked. A Grunt fell as a sniper shot from the GA hit him in the head! Before his pack could ignite, the Major ripped off the top, letting the gas out safely. A following sniper shot ripped past his shoulder! Throwing himself flat he roared out to his troops, "Prepare to advance!"

The troops with him nodded and gathered themselves together for an attack. The rescue fleet which had come to assist had been formed of elements of all the attack fleets that had gone out to battle with the fleets at Fondor, Shola and Tatooine. Now they were back here at the beginning to deal with their attackers. As soon as the firing in their area slackened they were all up and over the top of their cover and attacking across the ground!

--

As the Supreme Commanders fleet began its rise to battle, other ships form the new fleet began to break off and go towards the ground forces. As the battle wore on, the GA could only stare as they watched a huge CCS battlecruiser stop over their heads and start to drop Wraiths via its gravity lift. More started to follow and Banshees began to start their strafing runs on the ground forces. However the lightning fast T-53s began to counter their Covenant adversaries. Like deadly birds of prey they began to battle it out above the battlefield, half trying to shoot each other down, half trying to blast the others ground troops! The ground troops were not slack either, sporadic fire of ground based anti air began try hitting the fast movers. A Scarab suddenly dropped in the middle of the battlefield. However, this did not cause the same result that it had in Fondor. Four T-53s latched their cables onto the four legs and pulled in opposite directions! With a crash the Scarab fell. That was when the plan started to go wrong. While the Scarab was down, it had not lost its battle capabilities. The AA gun on its back lashed out at any who tried to get close to it, resulting in it downing more than five speeders.

--

Standing on the bridge of his Assault Carrier the Supreme Commander watched as his now larger fleet began to decimate the GA.

"How many of them are lost?"

"Twenty capital ships, Supreme Commander, three hundred fighters and twenty troop ships."

"And us?"

"Twelve capital ships, almost seventy fighters and sixteen Phantoms. Our using CCS's as a means of troops transport prevented further loss."

"Give me a communications channel to my adversary."

"Yes Supreme Commander."

--

"Admiral, we're being hailed."

"Put it up on the hologram."

"It's an older style sir, we can't."

"Then give it to me via comlink."

They all heard the alien voice which spoke next, and many shivered with dread at his speech.

"I am the Supreme Commander of the Fleet of Divine Intervention of the Covenant. I assume I speak to my adversary."

"I am the Admiral in charge of this fleet of the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances."

"Your fleet is decimated, your army is going to be annihilated. I offer you the chance to retreat with honour, having fought the good fight. This planet is under my protection and I want it free of all of your forces. If you refuse, I will grind your fleet into dust and then I will glass the very ground your ground forces stand upon!"

Silence reigned on the bridge. The Admiral was shaken, but defiant nevertheless.

"I do not give in to threats."

"It is not a threat, merely a statement of fact. Should you accept, you will be granted time to gather your forces and leave the system."

He looked around. He had lost more than half his fleet to this fight, he was not about to lose the rest.

"Very well."

* * *

Review, review. I aplogise again for my delay, but I still ask for reviews


	20. Chapter 20

Here is the next chapter. Thanks to all reviewers and to all who read as well. Chapter 20. Never thought I'd get this far. anyway,

* * *

"Give me the status of our fleet." The Supreme Commander was sitting in his grav chair, looking at the screens in front of him which showed all the Fleet Masters that he had sent out to battle. Now he was in the process of getting his bearings after the victory on Naboo.

The Fleet Master who had been at Fondor replied, "In total we have had eighteen ships incapacitated. That includes all the ships that were damaged beyond battle capability and are thus useless to us. The others have been completely destroyed."

From Tatooine the Fleet Master added, "Also we have another twenty three ships suffered medium to light damage. Most of these will need repairs before anything else in attempted."

"Fortunately we did not have any serious battles above Shola or Tatooine, these planets proved to be somewhat more defenceless."

"What of our ground forces?" the Supreme Commander was, to an extent more concerned about that. He knew that his opponents wouldn't glass any of their planets without provocation, and he was very careful not to give them any provocation.

"We have in total lost almost four hundred and seventy Sangheili, and two thousand Unggoy. Almost all of those casualties came from your own battles Supreme Commander." The voice carried almost an edge of reproach in it.

"Be thankful they came from my battle. They do not know the extent of our spread as a result."

--

"This brings us to a major problem Supreme Commander," the Fleet Master of Shola started, "How are we to continue our race?"

There was silence. It was a problem that they had all at one stage considered. None had so far been able to supply an answer.

"How many females are in our fleet?"

"In total, eighty seven."

The Supreme Commander grew even more downcast. Those eighty seven would almost certainly hate the idea of their being solely child bearers, maybe they would even become repulsed by the idea and choose to attack any male who went near them. It would not be a good idea. Talking them around, or wooing them might take too long. They could all be dead before they had even gotten a single child. Unless…

"Bring me the highest ranking officer of the prisoners." He barked to a Major.

"I have an idea Fleet Masters, we may yet succeed."

--

The captain was sweating when he was brought before the purple armoured commander of the invading forces.

"What do you want with me? I've answered all your questions!"

"Not this one." The purple armoured alien leaned back in his chair. "Do you have any cloners?"

The captain snorted. "What makes you think that we have cloners?"

"When one of your men was telling us the history of your galaxy he mentioned Clone Wars. I assumed that meant you had cloners."

The captain sagged. So they had gotten to his men. Doubtless they had disgorged everything they knew about the galaxy. Strangely they never asked him any military questions, they just asked him about his personal life, which he hadn't told them much about. Some he had, but he removed all mention of any military secrets, or numbers. Little did he know that they just checked his ships log, its records, his own information and what they had gleaned from their other prisoners. They knew far more than any of the other individuals guessed.

"Yeah we have cloners. I'm not telling you where they are though!"

The alien grinned, or he assumed it to be a grin. "You honestly think we want to clone an army? We are repulsed by the idea of cloning an army. But you will need to have any prisoner limbs replaced, we are offering to do so. I presume there are those who can do that procedure efficiently?"

"Yeah, you'd be best to go to the Kaminoans. They do have that procedure…" the captain was cut off as the alien turned to the screens.

"That will be all. Have the prisoner returned to his cell."

--

After the protesting captain was taken away the Supreme Commander turned back to his screens.

"We need to get all the females onboard a single ship, take them to that planet and get them cloned. Hopefully that will give us enough to continue our breeding program."

"Are you sure this is a good idea Supreme Commander?" the Fondor Fleet Master said, "They may not take to the plan to well."

"Press upon them their civic duty to provide heirs." The Supreme Commander waved a hand in the air, "But, do so subtly as they may need reasoning."

"On another note, we need more ships." The Tatooine Fleet Master commented.

"Indeed." The Supreme Commanders attention turned back to the Fondor Master. "How many ships were under construction?"

"In total, fifteen, although a good number were smaller and they all are not finished. The Huragok could feasibly fix them in a number of days, but I'm not sure how effective they would be, especially given the type of ships we have at our disposal. They are less heavily armed and have weaker shields."

"It matters not, we need more ships. That is the concern here. Have the Huragok fix them as soon as possible."

--

"Now, what news from our scouts?"

"Hypori has been conquered sir."

"That was quick." Commented one of the other Fleet Masters which prompted a chuckle from the rest.

"In all seriousness Supreme Commander, the planet is almost uninhabited. We did find some very old shipwrecks, however, and they provided us with some raw materials. We were able to salvage them, both of information and their hulls."

"Good. Post a minor garrison on the planet and withdraw most of your fleet to Fondor."

A Ship Master who had been listening patiently added what his ship had found. "The planet Hoth is a frozen wasteland. It is almost uninhabitable. At night the temperatures drops alarmingly and there is little cover. A ship could glass the planet and the area would be frozen over within a few hours."

"Then that is not a profitable bas site then?"

"Not really sir. If we were desperate, we could possibly retreat there if need be, but it is not a viable option otherwise."

"I will keep that in mind. Wise words Ship Master."

--

The Ship Master of a small frigate that had done an investigation of the system of Corellia spoke next, and his news was grim.

"I have done an investigation of the Corellian system. It is all we could ever want, a good atmosphere, a strong network and orbital facilities for ship building. That is, however, it's problem."

"What do you mean Ship Master?"

"I took the liberty of landing the ship in a remote area and sending in a few scouts on foot."

"By the gods, you fool!" screamed one of the Fleet Masters, and the others looked shocked, "You will have given us away!"

"Peace brothers, let him explain." The Supreme Commander said, and he gestured for the other to continue.

"Thank you sir. I landed, saying that we were a large private vessel belonging to one of the ruling class of Sangheilios. When the controller asked where that was, I said in the Unknown Regions, to which he replied, that explains it. My scouts noted some damage that had been done to the planets and the people replied that it had been due to the last three wars that had been fought in that area. A couple of off duty security men were quite happy to tell the "tourists" that Corellia had produced some of the largest battleships ever seen and had taken on the rest of the galaxy single handed."

"A strong race then."

"Human. There are also several other species in the system, as there are five planets. It is an artificial system. The planets themselves have large gravity repulsors in them. These can wreck serious damage on opponents. On our way to our jump point, I took a close look at the shipyards. They seem insolently proud of their achievements. Almost seventy ships under construction. We will need the entire Fleet if we are to take this system."

"The Supercarrier will aid us greatly then."

The Ship Master swallowed visibly. "Supreme Commander, I… there is a ship there that rivals the Supercarrier in size. It is bigger than our flagship!"

There was a stunned silence. Confidence was flagging rapidly. Acting quickly the Supreme Commander voiced his thoughts. "Then we will enjoy the challenge better."

--

"All of the lesser fleets are to leave the smallest possible force to defend their planets. The rest of the ships are to re-gather at Fondor. There is our priority, to defend the shipyards at all cost. Go."

All the screens blanked out, bar one. The Fleet Master who had conquered Fondor had remained for a private word.

"Are we gambling too much Supreme Commander?"

"You may speak freely brother."

"It may have been a mistake to let them go at Naboo. As we speak, they are probably recalibrating all they have learned from the battles and preparing for the next one. They will boost their shields, upgrade their lasers. They will be a tougher fight next time."

"What you say is true brother, and indeed I have put a lot of thought into how I will deal with this. But never fear, we must stick to the plan, and we will be victorious! But it will be a hard road for all of us. Never the less, we must prevail!"

"I have heard that Tatooine has been threatened by a criminal cartel."

"Yes, I have addressed that problem, you need not fear."

"Very well sir. I will see you at Fondor." The screen went black.

The Supreme Commander went right to the CIC. "You have the coordinates, make the slip."

* * *

Leave a review if you want. They will be replied to.


	21. Chapter 21

Again I have to say thanks fore all reviews, they do really make me feel that I'm doing well with this story. I decided to lighten the narrative a bit with this chapter, as the action will start to intensify in the next few. Besides this will solve any questions as to how the Elites will replace any lost soldiers. Enjoy.

* * *

A Covenant frigate exited Slipspace over the planet of Kamino. Onboard were the eighty seven females that were part of the Fleet. Only one was an Ultra, the rest were Majors and Minors. Sangheili didn't particularly like the idea of females being soldiers. They thought it a reverse of natural order. But here there was no chance of respite from battle. They had to fight, or be destroyed. Now, much to their disgust, they were being used as child bearers. In more ways than one. The Ship Master in charge of this vessel had had to put up with violent and dangerous females attempting to rip off his head. Especially after the Supreme Commander had told them what their purpose was on this planet. They were to be the mothers of an entire race, cloned out of their genetic material. The Supreme Commander had been firm, but they could all see he wasn't very happy with the decision he had to make.

"We are approaching the planet now." The Ship Master was slightly on edge ever since the females had started growling at anyone who came near them.

"What is its constitution?" One of them asked him.

"Mostly ocean. Why?" he wasn't entirely sure if he wanted that question answered.

"So we can know if we will have anything to look at while we are imprisoned upon this forsaken place." Was the bitter reply.

The Ship Master backed away very quickly. He didn't want to be the one who lost a hand to these ferocious females. They were in a rage and it had not yet abated.

"We are approaching the planets atmosphere now sir." His Navigator reported.

"Good!" the Ship Master strode away from the biting range. "This," he muttered as he got back into his grav chair, "Is the absolute last time we take passengers!"

--

Kamino was a planet that was very wet. It was covered in water, and as if that wasn't enough, it was raining most of the time! The frigate descended quickly from the sky and headed for a landing pad that was visible to them. With a ponderous grace the large ship managed to bring itself around landed as lightly as possible. After the ship had come to rest, a small hatch in the side opened and out came the troop. As they descended towards the pad, the double doors in the facility opened and a set of guards came running out to meet them. They halted and raised their blaster rifles.

"Freeze right there!"

The Elites responded as they always did, drop rolling out of sight and taking up station with plasma rifles and carbines. Neither side opened fire, but the air almost crackled with tension! The standoff , when coupled with the females already high levels of aggression could quickly spiral out of control! The Ship Master strode to the front.

"We have come to offer a commission!" he stated over the noise of the rain.

"You will leave all weapons here!"

The response was a growl from the Elites. The Ship Master turned and barked a few phrases in the language of Sangheilios. They lowered their weapons and they clattered to the deck. The Ship Master beckoned the commander of the group over to where they were standing.

"Just between the two of us, it's probably not a good idea to upset any of these females. They are all that we have for reproducing. Harm any of them and the Supreme Commander will glass your planet and set out to wreck as much galactic damage as is possible!"

The Commander eyed him with a dangerous look to his face. "Ever tried orbital bombardment on a planet made of water?"

The Ship Master replied with an equal comment. "Ever seen what plasma does to a body."

--

After a few tense trips in elevators the troop reached the bottom of the facility. The eighty seven females were all present, although any attempt to speak with them, or to engage them in conversation had the same result. A violent snap in their direction and a growl of warning. It gave a whole new meaning to the phrase, "don't touch". The Ship Master was sitting opposite the Prime Minister of Kamino, who was starting into their business discussions.

"My Supreme Commander has authorised me to conduct this venture in accordance with the general aim of reconstituting our race."

"How do you intend to do this?" the Prime Minister was intrigued. Like all others in the galaxy he had viewed the battles on Naboo with increasing unease. The aliens fought like demons and were more than capable of taking the fight to the GA with little to no hesitation. What scared him more was that they had managed to fight a larger armada with a smaller number of ships and still be victorious. They were skilled, of that there was no doubt. The fact that they were dying had not crossed his mind.

"We have in total eighty seven females in our entire fleet. This is them." He gestured behind him.

The Prime Minister was aghast. Trying to conquer a galaxy with a small fleet and a small army was bad enough, but having no way of replacing your fighters was a complete madness. "So you came here?" he finally managed.

"Yes. Due to our Supreme Commanders orders the eighty seven females are here and ready to be cloned for the continuation of our race. The Unggoy are not in the same situation. They let their females fight as well so there are at least four thousand female Grunts. But we are not so fortunate, we do not really let our women fight, these are all here because their being needed for positions aboard the fleet."

There was a low growling comment from one of the females and the Ship Master replied with a snarled comment of his own.

--

"My apologies, they are not really in favour of the idea." The Ship Master turned around.

"How many would you be needing?"

The Ship Master pulled out a small portable screen and looked at it. "We will need roughly four million strictly female clones to refurbish our race." He stated and put the data away. The Prime Minister looked back at him with a strange expression on his face. The Ship Master was not fully sure of what his expression meant, he was not fully schooled in the arts of reading others faces, but he had an inkling of what was meant.

"How many?" the Prime Minister said in a choking voice.

"Four million."

"I beg your pardon Ship Master, but four million clones is a large order. The cost alone is almost…"

"Will this be enough?" the Ship Master showed him the data with the amount they were going to pay on it.

The Prime Ministers neck shivered for a moment. "Yes that will do nicely."

As he reached to grab it, the Ship Master drew it slightly back. "How much does a single clone cost?"

"A good one? Nearly five thousand credits. A bad one would cost roughly two thousand. A medium clone would cost close to four thousand."

"Then calculate the amount for four million medium clones and deduct it from the total there."

The Prime Minister reached out and took the data. Before he could draw it back however an iron strong hand clamped down on his wrist. The Ship Master had his energy sword out, but not yet ignited.

"Do not attempt to cross us, Prime Minister, or you will find us most ungrateful!"

--

After the ship had taken off and the females had been led to their quarters the Prime Minister looked down at the credit chip he held in his hand.

_16000000000!_

_--_

"Ship Master?"

"Yes Navigator?"

"Where did we get the money to fund all of this?"

The Ship Master smiled to himself. "We took it from Fondors banks and vaults. A large portion of it was for Kaminoan ordered ships."

* * *

Definitly a different chapter to the rest. More will follow and we will return to the Supreme Commander and his crew. Bit of a teaser for the next chapter, the Hutts attack Tatooine!


	22. Chapter 22

Galactic Alliance strikes back!

* * *

The Supreme Commander was with his Fleet and Field Masters at the operations room. They were going over their battle data, analyzing it and running it through their opinions, trying to get an accurate detail of what their new enemy fought like.

"They have a balanced force. On Naboo they would attack using both armour and infantry."

One of the other Field Masters nodded and pointed to a holographic piece of information. "You can see from this part here that they are also adept at using small tactical squads to reinforce their assaults, in particular rocket armed troops."

Nodding, the first Fleet Master gave an affirmation. "They are also quite capable of taking on armour using these. The rockets are highly effective against Wraiths, but less so against a Scarab."

"Having said that," a Field Master pointed out, "They have ways of taking out the Scarab, incapacitating it, but not killing it."

"Certainly their methods are respectable, if they do often fall to the mistakes that our former enemies used."

The Fondor Fleet Master put in a quick word. "I have noticed that their uses of commando and special operations units are somewhat frightening. Their assault on the Naboo trenches in particular."

"I highly doubt we have seen all the various species in this galaxy. There were almost three dozen different types on Naboo alone!"

"We have seen maybe a tenth of them."

All heads swivelled to the Supreme Commander. It was the first time he had spoken at the meeting. He continued, "I took advantage of the lull to go through the records here in Fondor. Foolishly the people here believe us to be only searching for military records, no one has yet thought that I would be after the records of the galaxy itself."

He rose and began to stride around the table, letting all his thoughts focus on what he was going to say next. "Their history is quite astonishing to read, wars, wars and more wars. Their most recent one was not a real war at all, but merely a series of battles between a pair of Sith Lords and a judicial force led by a Jedi Knight. That was preceeded almost immediately by a war fought by Corellia, as our esteemed Ship Master colleague has told us, and the rest of the galaxy. Before that, a small scale war with a hive species that was lurking in the edges of the galaxy, before that a war with extra-galactic invaders. All through their history they have had wars with everyone. The Jedi even had a civil war."

"Like we are having as we speak in our own galaxy." A Fleet Master said.

"Correct. Now we need to…"

--

"Supreme Commander! Multiple contacts entering the system!"

Every head popped up at that and the Fleet Masters began to rush for ships to take them back to their stations, but a curt word from the Supreme Commander halted them.

"How far out?" he asked.

"At the edge, getting closer as we speak."

"Thank you Ship Master, establish a link up with the entire Fleet from here and begin patching through the combat data. I will then join you on the bridge."

There was a crackle as the Battle Net was routed straight to his room.

"All ships go to standard defensive battle array. As soon as they are within range of our torpedoes, open fire."

Turning to his Fleet Master he gave his reasoning. "They know our ships strengths now, we must hold nothing back! To your ships!"

They raced out and off towards their own stations. The Supreme Commander walked out himself and went straight to the bridge of his ship. Wisely he had opted to use an Assault Carrier as his flagship instead of the usual Supercarrier. The use of the Assault Carrier gave him a slight edge, his dreadnaught remained hidden. Now, he thought, is battle to be joined. He entered the command centre and immediately went to his grav chair and rose above the heads of his subordinates.

"Return fire incoming Supreme Commander!"

The ships shook as the blasts hit the fore shields, but they held.

"Blasts are at a higher intensity than before Commander!"

"How many of them are there?"

"At present, five hundred. There may be more though, we have not yet completed a scan of the area."

There may be more, he thought to himself, out loud he said, "Tell the Supercarrier to stay out of sight and to complete the scan itself. Focus all our efforts on our enemy!"

--

"Fighters!" came a shout from one of the other stations.

"Blast any that get within range, keep our fire up!" the Ship Master was adamant that they would not bomb his ship.

The Supreme Commander sat in total silence, focusing his attention on his attackers. They were lethal fighters, their small ships had an uncanny knack for getting in close and causing damage. In fact one of his ships at Fondor had been lost to fighter bombers. They were lethal, especially at close range where they could dodge the gun emplacements and go head to head with the ships vulnerable quarters. They were quite often a dangerous distraction and…

The Supreme Commander snapped out of his musings. Around him the quick and skilled crew concentrated their efforts on backing up the beleaguered Seraphs, but he focused on the screen in front of him. A readout which showed that all his ships were involved in the same tactic while the GA fleet came closer and closer to getting within broadside range. Their broadsides could be quite serious if not dealt with quickly. Now he saw the strategy!

"Ship Master!" he roared. As soon as the officer looked at him, "Focus your fire on the incoming ships. Leave the fighters to the Seraphs! If any come within range of the defence weaponry, fry them! But for now concentrate fire on the incoming capital ships!"

"But Supreme Commander, the fighter bombers…"

"Do it! Now! I have no time to explain!" The Supreme Commander blazed in anger and thumped down into his seat. Opening his channel to the rest of the fleet he sent out the signal to the rest of the Fleet. "Prepare to repel attackers from all sides, focus fire on the capital ships!"

Beside him his two Hunter bodyguards looked at him with the blank faces. In as much as Mgalekgolo could show emotion, he believed they were somewhat slightly concerned for his health. He could not afford to show weakness now.

--

With the shortened range the ships began once again to engage each other. But the close range tactic of the GA had gotten them within their killing range. Outnumbered five to one, the Fleet of Divine Intervention began one of the most serious battles they had ever fought.

* * *

I know I usually thank all reviewers at the start but I felt it would be best just to leave the whole, GA strikes back, thing there. Thanks for all reviewers and all readers too. If you haven't reviewed yet, please do so. You know you want to.


	23. Chapter 23

I hate it when I waste my time not updating. Unfortunatly I have so much going on at the moment it's not fair. Anyway, to the42jabberwocky, nice name from Alice in Wonderland as I recall, no I made a decision that none of the staple cahracters will appear in this fic, they will in my other crossover story, but not in this one. It's set too long after the movies to involve them. Also I'm not naming characters. To Rtas, I have read that fic and Katsuhiro is a master. I must bow to the greatness there. Anyway, enjoy this chapter.

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The Seraph Ultra in charge of the flight led the charge into the heart of the enemy formations, they were dangerous group, smaller and more numerous than their opponents. Not for the first time did the Elite feel the pangs of envy as he considered the Gas mastery of space combat. Their fighters were small and nimble, easy to manoeuvre and easier to evade shots with. They were outnumbered by a ratio of more than four to one, but whoever had said they would let a little problem like that hold them back? With a curse the Ultra whipped his Seraph around in a tight loop and headed right for the target he had given himself. Around him hundreds of other fighters threw themselves at their enemies with a ferocity that astounded him. He was proud of his pilots, they were all skilled and determined. For a brief moment he allowed himself the luxury of taking a moment to look around at the larger fight in front of him. The two fleets had come well within blasting range, and neither was holding back.

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Another turbolaser volley crashed against the shields of the Fondor Fleet Masters flagship.

"Status?" he bellowed to his Systems Operator.

"Fore shields are holding, but they took a serious amount of damage in that last barrage Fleet Master."

"Allow time for them to recharge in our next attack. How are our ships in our section faring?"

His Signals Master replied. "Our forces here are in good condition, Fleet Master, but the ships to the left flank have taken serious damage."

"Keep all our fleet in front of the shipyards, those are pour main priority and we cannot afford to lose them. Give me the status of the ships that we have drafted into our fleet?"

"One has suffered a breach in its hull, but the area has been locked down and the ship has been shifted from its place in the line to the rear."

"Fire our energy projector into that ship there."

At that order the bridge crew turned to look at their commanding officer. "Sir?" one of them tentatively asked. The Fleet Master shot him a glare.

"Do it."

Instantly the crew sprang to obedience and carried the orders out.

"Firing control, do you have a lock on the targeted ship?"

"Yes command."

"Fire when ready. Power being routed to the fore energy projector as requested."

"Projector fully charged, firing in three, two, one!"

A beam of pure energy lanced out of the ships prow and the blazing stream crackled as it connected with the prow of the destroyer it hit. Its shields held, however and the ship barely held off the attack.

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Aboard the fleet flagship the Supreme Commander regarded the fight with practised eyes. It all seemed like a human game, what did they call it, chess? It all seemed like chess. His most important piece of this battle was still intact and well defended in the midst of this heavy conflict. Plasma torpedoes, laser blasts and missiles crisscrossed the darkness outside his canopy. Even as he watched there was an explosion and pieces of armour and hull plating rippled off across the void from an Alliance ship. The Supreme Commander allowed himself a small feral smile at this, but he knew that the Covenant cruiser that had dealt out that blow was only just in better shape than the ship it had combated. He turned back to his crew and ship.

"Send word to the ships on our right flank to watch for any more intruders who will try to get around our outside flanks. Send a message to that cruiser to close in next to one of their bigger ships and get above it, and then use its gravity beam in offensive capacity."

His orders complied with the Supreme Commander turned back to his view screens where his forces were still pressed hard against his attackers. As he watched he noticed a reserve of heavy ships that were being held back by his opponent. With a quick movement he set it so that the second that reserve started to move he would be notified. If and when they became a threat he would be more than able to deal with them, but for now they lessened the odds, which suited him fine. He needed to have his forces holding off at least an odds of two and a half to one, or three to one, it made the battle easier on his part.

"Order the left centre to focus their fire on that particular cluster of ships. Tell all fighter groups to stay within a certain distance of the ships here, we don't want them getting within range of the GA anti fighter defences. We have need of them here."

The ship rocked heavily and he was almost thrown from his chair.

"Supreme Commander a small section of the shields collapsed and we were unfortunately hit by one of their torpedoes."

"Understood. Return fire!"

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The huge flagship sent in six plasma torpedoes of its own towards the nearest capital ship. The heavy plasma fire quickly disabled the ships fore shields and several other cruisers, seeking to vindicate their leader followed suit, their plasma fire ripping apart the enemy vessel. The GA responded with an artillery barrage which managed to break the shields on one of the _CCS_ cruisers, which was subsequently mauled by six frigates which got within range. A _Modified Nebulon-B_ frigate managed to get off several blasts at the flagship before it had to race off out of range of the massive ships defenders who were anxious to keep any attacks away from the mighty Supreme Commander. Out on the left flank, the fleet wings were in the midst of a harsh battle, and already the Assault Carrier was in a serious difficulty. It was surrounded by six ships, the Master having made the mistake of pursuing too far out of the protection of his section. Parts of the shields were down and several parts of the ship were on fire. The Fleet Master, whose fleet it was a part of, fumed in silence at it. He had never made it, having been forced to divert to a _CCS_ and to take command there. He was very angry, but also very frightened. If he was to lose that ship, it could well be a blow they would not recover from. He gave his orders as the Assault Carrier destroyed one of the smaller of its attackers and the entire wing began to move forward. In a stream of plasma fire they annihilated the assailants just as the Supreme Commander hailed him over the Battle Net.

"What do you think you are doing!" he roared as soon as receipt was acknowledged.

"Retrieving a vital piece of equipment Supreme Commander."

"The station is vulnerable now."

"Not entirely, I have left a reserve force to hold off any attacks while we are otherwise engaged. I felt that moving the majority of the wing would cover our advance and prevent any attackers to get through the hole we would have inevitably created."

"That Ship Master was foolish enough to disobey, and I have no truck with disobedience. Save the ship, but afterwards he is to be punished. I will punish him myself. Retrieve the ship then, but subsequent fall back establish a defensive line. I will have to decide then what is the best move next. Continue!"

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At that point the Supreme Commander heard a little ringing of a bell. His reminder on the reserve force had rung in. They were moving. They were headed for the planet. As he watched they launched troop ships for a ground invasion.

"No!" he shouted thumping his armrest, "This I did not foresee!"

* * *

I'm planning to have the Second Battle of Fondor happen over several chapters, so stay tuned.


	24. Chapter 24

I am back! Sorry about the delay, various reasons, all important, all not so important. Anyway, here it is. Slow short chapter, really just a scene setter. There will be a big battle coming soon. I got an anonymous review there asking why only five hundred ships. The answer is simple. How many ships would you sed to deal with a fleet of a hundred? it would be a waste of time and money send over seven hundred so keep it reasonable. But if you want a huge space battle with thousands of ships, wait until the battle of Corellia. That will be epic I can promise.

* * *

The Field Master on the round had only just gotten the message in time. With barely seconds to spare he had scrambled any Banshees that he had. Dozens of speeders shot overhead and rained laser fire down on the hapless ground troops who were in the open.

"Take cover and prepare for combat!" he roared onto the Battle Net.

Within moments the Elites had jumped into action. Years of being involved in war with one species or another had made them hair trigger ready. Even as the first of the attack tanks opened fire on the district that they were stationed in, the Elites made their move. Dozens of Wraith tanks began to open fire. Plasma mortar shells rained hell down on the more vulnerable GA positions. Snipers began to move towards their positions as all the Elites prepared for a deadly round engagement.

In his command bunker the Field Master quickly watched reports flood in from his various forward defences. The screen chimed three times and the image of the Supreme Commander appeared.

"Field Master, my apologies that this came about."

"Accepted Supreme Commander. It was unavoidable, an indeed we want to fight as well."

"Assistance is not going to be forthcoming I'm afraid. We are heavily engaged by at least three hundred ships here and will remain so until we break their lines. Give me status reports from the forwards defences."

"Sectors three and seven are breached heavily Supreme Commander, heavy armour I believe is reported to be moving along the rail systems in that area, thus they are getting in in large numbers."

"Prepare to evacuate those areas and try to execute a pincer manoeuvre by cutting off their entrance points in the sectors beyond those ones. Be advised that they will use commando teams to get in close to you. Do not be afraid to use whatever means are available to you in this fight. Save one."

The Field Master nodded. He knew what the Supreme Commander meant. "Should I hold back the Scarab or send it in now?"

The Supreme Commander thought for a moment. "No. Hold them back, but when the pressure becomes critical, release them. Remember, these fighters have ways of defeating Scarabs in combat, do not let them go beyond support."

The screen went black.

The first thing that the Elites did was to set up temporary defences at strategic points along the rail systems. All they had to do was to slow down the advance of the GA while reinforcing their own secondary positions. Which is what they did. Most of the Wraiths and Banshees were directed to a point where they would halt the GA assault long enough for their advance line to be cut in a lightning strike. Civilians were forced to evacuate the areas where they would make a stand and the soldiers of the Hundred and Six were fast and efficient about their work. Within three standard hours the defences were in place and the harassing snipers, demolitions teams and Rangers fell back out of reach of the advancing columns. These delaying actions were not bloodless however, over a hundred and fifty Grunts had fallen, and more than eighty Elite. What made it worse was that almost thirty of those dead were the Ranger fallen. The Sangheili Elites had fared particularly harshly when they had attacked a group of All Terrain-Anti Aircraft vehicles. In moments the rapid fire pulse shots had shut down systems leaving the Rangers falling from the sky, their shields failing as they did so. Injured and defenceless, they were easy prey for the footsoldiers who accompanied the vehicles.

Elsewhere in the city other problems were being encountered. This was not the same type of warfare that they had fought on Naboo, no long weeks to prepare here. This was a hasty defence, thrown up in a fit of desperation as the GA advanced. Small squad warfare, firefights were short, sharp and brutal. While the Elites could hold their own well in these battles, the smaller and slower Grunts had a much harder time. For that reason, their Elite commanders generally told them to keep to the back so that they could do the flanking and close quarters work. This meant that there needed to be at least two Elites with each group of Grunts. That didn't mean that the Grunts were defenceless however, any head that was stuck out was rewarded with a flurry of plasma fire and maybe a grenade or two. Short, sharp and brutal. This kind of city fighting resulted in a lot of close quarters battle, which the Elites were good at. But these troops carried vibroblades as well as blasters and they were able to aptly send Grunts to their deaths as they hit them. In close, with only their pistols, the Grunts stood no chance. Snipers became more and more important to the fight and the Sangheili found themselves picking carbine and plasma rifles for their battles. But so far, they were holding.

* * *

Please r&r. It will give me the courage to go on.


	25. Chapter 25

New chapter. This one is longer as the Elite forces begin their defensive battle to hold the ground of Fondor. Thanks to all reviewers and to all readers.

* * *

Heavy laser blasts crashed into the bulwarks of the choke point. For the Covenant, the beginnings of Operation: SNAKEHEAD had begun. Huge numbers of the GA military hurled themselves into the attack on the fortified positions, their blasterfire and tank support immediately causing problems. The Elites had taken the opportunity afforded by their delaying tactics to dig in into this new area which consisted of a large building that had formerly been one of the largest communications suites on the planet. It had already been a somewhat fortified stronghold, with large thick walls and few entrances, but the Elites had brought in shield generators and Shades along with multiple fixed plasma cannons. Grunts armed with Fuel Rod cannons lined the roof and snipers kept a clear watch out of the windows. Unfortunately the shields, while effective, were not very big. At most they could shield sections of the second story. What made things worse was that they could be overwhelmed if enough fire was directed on them. But they did have other defences as well.

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Cannon fire impacted on the hastily improvised barriers that had been set up.

"Return fire!" the Zealot in charge of the defence screamed at his subordinates.

From a thousand niches all over the structure came plasma streams, superheated matter charges, crystalline needles and best yet the bars of energy that were lethal to armour. Impacts shot up from the ground as the first set of cannon fire and plasma streams crashed into the attackers. With cries of orders the GA troops dived for cover, or foolishly tried to return fire against their enemies. Those who hid lived, those who didn't were mown down where they stood by the heavy plasma cannons of the Shade defence turrets. The Shades then turned their attention to the halted armour column. As soon as the order had come through, the Grunts with the Fuel Rod Cannons had immediately targeted the lead heavy tanks. The T-5b class tanks had been crippled in seconds and deadly sniper fire had dealt with any who had tried to escape the barrage. It was a choke point and it lived up to the tactical title. Behind it stretched a column of men and armour, backed up for the moment while their forward units were hit with lethal fire.

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In his headquarters the Field Master allowed a small grin to cross his face as he regarded the reports sent to him from his forward officers. On the screen before him he had accurately managed to display a tactical readout of the battle. It would be a while, exact times were hard to gauge, before the GA managed to get out from the stoppered column and reorganize for bypassing the chokepoint, by which time his secondary choke points would have come into play. It was always the problem, trying to move large numbers of troops into a battle zone. From what the Supreme Commander had read from their histories, he knew that in the wars here, taking an entire planet was never manageable by any army. Most anyone ever did was to capture strategic points and then after the planets surrender spread control. He was not expecting a dangerous assault on any other part of the planet, the majority of the major centres were on this side of the planet, but he had not discounted a second attack on these stations from the rear. Plus he had not forgotten the Supreme Commanders warning of covert units attempting to infiltrate his position. He spared a glance for the four Hunters that had been assigned to protect his command centre and smiled tightly at that.

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The GA reacted quickly enough. They rallied first of all and began to use their cover better for their advance. Ducking and dodging forward they kept moving towards the locations of the Covenant defenders. Equally so they seemed to have gotten a better cohesion between the various forces at their disposal, for within moments of them being pinned down they had summoned several attack air speeders and were coming in over the tops of the surrounding buildings. However, the Field Master had seen to that and AA fire began to pump up into the sky from the collection of AA Wraiths that were dotted around the area. The extra defence immediately caused the air speeders to break off the attack and go into evasive manoeuvres. It was a successful defence then as Banshees arrived in a swarm. With an aerial battle going on overhead with at least a hundred vehicles the Elites kept up their defensive combat.

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The first squads of the 105th Assault Battalion broke cover and crossed the divide from the overturned speeder they were cowering behind to the alleys on the side of the street. Once inside they began flanking manoeuvres towards the side streets , hoping to get past where the Elites should have been concentrating on the road behind them. As they walked slowly down the deserted street, blaster rifles at the ready, they never noticed the figure crouched on one of the roofs further down the road. With a short, sharp movement, the Sangheili had locked one of the leading Rodians in his sights and put a single beam rifle shot through his left eye. Out of the surrounding buildings came a steady stream of lethal plasma fire. Back in their favoured situation the medium ranged plasma rifles again took precedent.

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A few streets back the GA were advancing one of their heavy Mobile Artillery Platforms-Torpedo into position for the shelling of the defensive point. However just as they manoeuvred it into the final position the sewer covering underneath the undercarriage popped open, if even slightly. A Grunt head slid up. A quick glance around told the Grunt Sergeant what he needed to know. Without anyone realising, a pair of small, stubby arms came up out of the hatch and latched a package onto the bottom of the giant machine. As the Grunt scurried, squealing with glee, back down the sewer line a terrific flash lit up the sky as the artillery piece blew up. Back at the base the Zealot lowered the zoom on his lenses and muttered, "Thank the gods that the Grunts can go into those tiny holes."

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But the snake that was the GA advance was not yet without a sting. As soon as word reached an officer who could order such a move, the GA broke its advance line an moved out. Spreading out from the main street they moved into the side streets and passed down the other large streets. As soon as the Field Master heard it was happening, he gave the order for the second stage to commence.

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Next chapter should feature some more space battle as well as the return of the Supreme Commander to the fore.


	26. Chapter 26

My sincere apologies about the lack of updates that I had on. My Semester 1 exams were on and I had to study for them over the last three weeks. Anyway, as promised here is the next chapter. Enjoy.

* * *

The hold up was driving some of the officers mad.

"Come on people let's move!" One of the GA colonels was more than impatient. His tanks had been sitting there for some time and his artillery needed to be brought to bear.

"Sir." It was one of the lieutenants, "We are pinned in a chokepoint."

"Has anyone tried flanking yet?"

"Yes sir, but they just expanded their defences to handle the flanking. They'd set up ambushes sir."

The colonel snorted to himself. These invaders were smart, it would be best not to underestimate them too much, that could only lead to one end and it was an end he was not willing to consider. "Prepare to break ranks and move into the nearby streets. If we can't break it," he turned his attention to the head of the column, lost somewhere in the mass of buildings, "Then we go around it."

Unfortunately for this officer, the news had been a little late. No sooner had the troops begun to break their lines and move towards the side streets then there was a cry of "Incoming!"

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Plasma mortar shells smashed into the tanks and the general centre of the mass of infantry and armour. In the midst of it all, a single beam rifle shot left the troops commander less. With grim satisfaction the Zealot lowered the zoom on his lenses. If that order had come through just a short while ago, then they could have been fighting a much harder battle. Leaderless troops are easier to beat, than well led units. Turning to the Grunt Sergeant he nodded. With a short sharp bark into his radio the Grunt gave the order.

"Fire rockets!"

With a hiss of escaping radioactive gas the Fuel Rod Cannons spat out their deadly projectiles. At this close short range they couldn't miss. Explosions and lethal radiation rocked the column and more than a few lost their lives as a result of the explosive energy ripping through their cover. Deadly plasma rifle shots tore through the air, lacing it with lethal fire.

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In orbit the Elites kept a tight formation, their Battlecruisers and Assault Carriers using overlapping layers of defense to increase their firepower and double up their shields. Dozens of fighters nipped in and around them, keeping the pressure up on the fighter bombers of the GA and making them suffer for every shot they managed to get off. Onboard the flagship of the fleet the Supreme Commander was watching two separate screens very carefully. One showed the tactical layout of his fleet in orbit and the other showed the stats of his army on the ground. Both displays were giving him cause for concern. The ground offensive was going well, that much he had to admit, but it remained to be seen if the GA did not try to perform some sort of rearguard action where they would sneak past his defences and attack from the rear. Doubtless they would, but he was more concerned as to when it would happen. His lack of intelligence as to this was a cause for concern. What made other things difficult was that he had to keep this formation or risk having their ranks broken. As it was they had to remain stationary. Movement would leave stragglers and they would be picked off like animals by carrion. The Supreme Commander was a strong willed individual, all could say that, so it did not appeal to him to see his opponent winning the battle so completely. It rather infuriated him. He turned and stalked over to where his display listed the resources he had left. Out of the one hundred and twenty ships he had taken into this battle, ninety six remained. Still a formidable fleet, but he was missing several vital pieces. By his estimate, that's all it was, his opponents had lost a significant number of ships, at least three time as many, mostly by throwing themselves at the well defended ships. He needed a breach point.

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"Ship Master."

"Yes Supreme Commander?"

"What's the status of the fleet sending down transports to the surface?"

"They are largely intact sir. Mostly they are cycling ships in to reinforce the ranks of the attacking fleet."

The Carrier shook suddenly. The Supreme Commander took a moment to examine his scopes.

"Number four flight, keep a tighter watch on those fighter bombers."

"Acknowledged Supreme Commander."

With a sublime hiss three more plasma torpedoes launched from the forward tubes of the Carrier. They splattered on the shields of a cruise that had gotten too close for comfort. Shields dropped to a staggering twenty per cent and the cruiser backed out of the danger zone quickly. The Supreme Commander sighed slightly to himself. This defensive strategy could not continue if he was to have a victory in this long drawn out battle. With a roar he noted something disturbing. The assault fleet was sending own more transports. While it meant that the surface snakehead strategy was succeeding, they would eventually be overwhelmed. He had to intervene now.

---------------------------------

"All ships this is the Supreme Commander. All ships prepare to attack on my mark. Also, prepare boarding parties."

From the bowels of his own ship he could hear the cheers. A winking light on his arm rests drew his attention. With a deft claw touch he activated it. "Supreme Commander."

"Sir, it is I." The Fleet Master from Naboo spoke quickly. "Is this wise, we have little troops aboard in case of an emergency."

"We must use the element of surprise that we still retain Fleet Master."

"I know sir, but our formation can be broken if we move."

"Such a fact has already come to my attention."

"I just want to know what your strategy is for our mass movement."

The Supreme Commander turned his head slightly away from the microphone for a brief few seconds as he thought about his answer. Then he replied.

"We will move our fleet in synch at the same speed until I give the word and we will then stagger to cover our boarding ships, at that point we will retreat as they do their work."

"What of the enemy admiral?"

The Supreme Commander turned his gaze to the screen displaying his opponents ship. It had not entered the fray as his had done, choosing instead to hold back and observe the battle. The image of a puppet master sprang to mind. Reaching out into his mind the Supreme Commander racked is brains as he attempted to guess his counter orders.

"His ships are spread out, they will attempt to return to cohesion before we strike as they will believe us to be attacking them. We will go for the largest straggler and from there we will launch our boarding parties."

"I see."

"Yes you will."

* * *

This battle will be ending soon enough and it's plain sailing form then til the end.


	27. Chapter 27

Again my apologies for the delay. Busy, Busy, Busy, that's what my life has been over the past few months, things happening, stuff going on, you know yourselves. I have started a new pro project (though I haven't gotten any money yet.) so that is why my time has been excessively diverted. Thanks to all who read and reviewed, and thanks to all who requested. It's nice to feel that I'm wanted. Anyway, can't believe I said that, On with the story.

* * *

From the bridge of his flagship, the Admiral of the GA fleet kept a close eye on what was happening in front of him. That's why his eyes nearly fell out of his head. The enemy were breaking their impenetrable defence formation. Suspicion immediately followed. What was the purpose of this, it did nothing to protect their ships, and there was a strong likelihood that they would leave the shipyards undefended. Focusing the Admiral tried to divine their purpose. No force would ever begin a move like this unless it was attacking, much like he had been doing, but this one made no sense as there was almost nothing to be gained from it. With a whirl he turned to the Jedi who had been assigned to assist him by the council.

"Master Jedi! I would like to know exactly what is going through the minds of the aliens at this point in time. This idea has no merit."

The Jedi was silent for some time until he finally spoke. "With some of the species on that ship it is practically impossible to read their intent, but from the others I can sense a heightened anticipation, a focused intent. Their leaders are surprisingly strong willed, so strong that they guard their minds exceptionally well. However, I would advise that you prepare for an attack."

"An attack!" The Admiral spun, locking his eyes on the now moving faster cruisers. The huge dreadnaughts were leading the assault, with a lot of smaller destroyers flanking them. Within a couple of moments the enemy had gone from being a defensive bulwark to being a steel tipped battering ram. He grabbed the comm. and shouted down it, "All craft, prepare for attack, regroup and stand by to repel attackers from all sides. Fighters stand by and protect the capital ships, bombers, stand by for defensive runs. They must not reach the liberating army."

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On the surface the GA general had received the official word only moments ago. The enemy was on the attack. As if the surface troops knew of their space borne brothers they started to defend more furiously. Plasma fire literally rained down on top of the GA troopers. What made life far worse for them was the fact that every now and then the aliens would send out airborne troops who could easily land and attack, then flee rapidly from the scene. Foot soldiers would also pop out of nowhere and strike like wraiths before disappearing. What was worse for the troops was unknown, facing an enemy trooper who was both skilled and had unbridled courage and morale and was never alone, or facing off against one of those tanks which seemed to come out of nowhere. Carrying both a huge mortar launcher and a rapid fire cannon, it didn't even bother trying to shoot them, but suddenly accelerated forwards and ran half of them over. Contact and conflict with weapons of that calibre was to be avoided at all possible times. A well entrenched enemy was a terror for any army to attack, and right now the GA was doing a lot of attacking. Attempts at flanking manoeuvres done by speeder bike troops were met with the extremely agile Invader equivalent of that type of vehicle. Rapid battles flashed left and right as the two sides clashed in an epic struggle of superheated matter and hyper concentrated packets of light.

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The staggered line of battlecruisers came closer and closer to the nearest star cruiser, a Mon Cal MC103 battleship. Unseen by the GA fleet a veritable swarm of boarding craft were swarming across the gap between the ships. The huge number of fighters on both sides of the cruisers, in the midst of their defending duties, also acted as a distracting force. A shield and part of the deception of the assault. Once they had reached the closer distance of a kilometre the two battleships were quite literally pounding the living daylights out of each other with their huge cannons and torpedo launchers. Gouts of flame exploded from the escaping atmosphere on both ships as the shots penetrated the shields and splattered against the hulls. Across the divide came dozens of little craft, their sights set on the larger ship, their noses primed with boarding drills and their occupants ready for battle. With a crash the first of the flotilla made contact with their enemy and instantly began to cut through the weaker section of the hull, right into the troop disembarkation ports.

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Onboard the ship alarms began to sound and hundreds of troops rushed to where the breach was about to take place and prepared for the assault. Rather than form up in a line and present arms so that they could fire powerful bursts, the group had learned from their experience and lined up along the walls, with as much cover as possible. Equipped with powerful repeater laser cannons, the soldiers threw heavy crates in front of their positions as they desperately prepared for the attack. Upon the bridge the communications officer attempted to reach the main fleet only to find that their communications had been cut off by the enemies first shot. Now, the same enemies who had done that were boarding the ship. Down at the boarding party the cutters had finally smashed their way through the durasteel and the soldiers took aim. For a second there was silence and then a small grenade-like item came flying out. In a second it detonated. Instead of the explosion they had expected, the flare sent out a blinding flash. It was all the boarders needed. Needles came flying from the black hole that was the entrance to the boarding craft. Homing projectiles, they instantly found their targets and shattered. Each shot was an instant maiming and an instant death in most cases. Behind the grunts who had wielded the weapons came the strong forefront attackers of the Covenant army, their marines were well prepared to seize the ship. These Elites were armed with plasma rifles, their high rate of fire would serve admirably here in the close quarters of the ship. Within moments the area had been cleared and the Covenant slicer hacked the nearest mainframe entrance.

---------------------------------------

On the planet below the Field Commander was poring over a map when the news came.

"Field Commander! The enemy have broken off their attack and are regrouping around their landing sites."

He paused for ma moment in thought, before remembering his Supreme Commanders orders. "Hold positions and the moment you get a chance, shore up the defences."

"As you command."

As soon as the channel had signed off, the Sangheili felt his hackles rise. "Be ready." he muttered to his Hunter guardians. They started to glance around and the Commander primed his energy sword, but kept the blade deactivated for now. He could feel it, the apprehension gathering around his head like a stormcloud. Something was wrong. He recalled the Supreme Commanders words to him and he was aware of the impending attack. Then it started.

-----------------------------

Through the corridors the Covenant vanguard pressed home their advantage. While there were no Stealth Elites here with them, they were needed for other tasks, the Covenant had discovered that the Grunts were more than capable of sneaking around the ship and starting surprise attacks. Led by skilled elite soldiers, the diminutive Grunts were busily proving their worth to the Covenant. A plasma grenade adhered to a mobile cover and the detonation blew the enemy to smithereens. The concentrated power of those grenades made them an asset on this ship. They were less likely to cause collateral damage, designed as they were for shattering shields. An Elite took his squad down a corridor, all the while heading towards the bridge, but the enemy had decided that they wanted to guard that place more than ever. Literally a battalion had entrenched themselves around the target. As he watched the scene the Elite muttered to himself about tactics. He turned to one of his Grunts.

"Give me you weapon." He ordered.

Without a moments hesitation the grunt obeyed.

"Now. I'm going to make an attack. When I give the order I want you all to loose a charged blast at the enemy defences. Is that understood?"

Vigourous nods. The Grunts had learned through countless years of training that the Elites expected obedience immediately, and that it could save their lives if they acted quickly enough.

The Elite gathered his thoughts, muttered a prayer to the gods, and charged.

Down the hallway he ran, twin weapons spitting blue and green fire. Enemy troopers ducked and took cover, or fired back. Shots impacted on his shields and he could see them being drained on his HUD. As soon as they depleted completely he threw forward a deployable cover and dived out of the firing line.

Safe for the moment he called out to his troops, "Forward and prepare."

Out from their hiding places came the Grunts, pistols charging as they did so. Keeping themselves behind the cover they reached their firing line and took their stances. Under the sustained fire of the GA the cover slowly collapsed. Flaring red, it gave out.

"Fire!" cried the Elite.

* * *

Cliffhanger I know, but it sets up my next chapter quite well.


	28. Chapter 28

I'm back again. Bit quicker than last time, sorry about that. Anyway, more battles. I'm beginning to run out of inspiration fo this story, but there isn't long left in it, in terms of events. However, there will be be no Brutes in this story, or any loyalists. This is simply the Elites fighting for survival against a huge force. Nor will there be named characters. Any major characters will be minor characters in this story which has, as you may have noticed, no named characters. Any I refer to will be by reference and not named. I've already mentioned the Arbiter, by title, and Admiral Gar Stazi of the Legacy Era comics. Named characters and series main characters are in my Beyond the Horizons, Beyond the Stars story. This fic will also be referenced in that fic.

* * *

Eight charged shots blasted into the hasty barricade that the GA had set up. Confused and disorientated the marines were easy prey for the next attack, as a couple of plasma grenades came flying in the gap and landed in their laps. The Elite led his troops in and took a quick look around. All the defenders lay on the ground, although a couple were still alive. The Grunts looked at their officer. With a quick look around he knew. He shook his head. Plasma hisses were heard as the Grunts fired their finishing shots. Opening a channel to the supervisor for the attack he gave his report.

"Elevator to the main tower bridge has been secured. Awaiting orders."

"Acknowledged. Await reinforcements."

"Understood."

The report done the Elite turned back to his troops. None of them looked particularly happy, standing amidst the carnage of their last attack. The Elite wasn't particularly happy either. But they could not afford to take prisoners on this attack and he knew how painful a plasma burn was. None of the dead beings would have been able to walk after that, to say nothing of the lethal burns most had experienced. So he had ordered their execution. But the Grunts were still a bit afraid of what revenge might be taken if the GA discovered their downed brethren. Head held high the Elite switched their attention from the aftermath of their attack, back to the job in hand.

-----------------------------------

Blaster fire echoed around the area that the Field Commander was stationed in. Without a moment's hesitation the Hunters headed for the sound. For the attacking Commandos it was a terrifying sight. Exchanging fire with the Sangheili guards, the first commando threw a glance over to where the command tent was situated. Horror emanated from his face as he saw the sight from a nightmare. Four gigantic creatures emerged from the tent, armoured faceplates glaring vicious death at the lot of them, huge shields on their arms and equally huge guns. For a brief moment there was a pause in the fighting as everyone turned to look, the Elites cheering quietly. Then some idiot on the GA side fired off a shot. And that's when it all turned to hell for them. With a low growl the Hunters readied themselves. And then they charged. The first of the behemoths battered away the cover that one of the troopers had been taking cover behind and with one sweep of the huge shield sent him flying. With a scream he shot past his comrades and impacted on the wall with a sickening crack. With a bound the second had vaulted over the low wall that lay along the rim of the storage area. Closing in on the nearest commando, a trandoshan, the huge creature simply swung the huge shield and sent the enemy into the range of a nearby Elite who put a bolt into his head. A gunner with a rotary cannon opened fire on an approaching Hunter, who took cover behind his shield. Mouth open in a snarl the gunner poured all his effort into blasting the Hunter. The snarl changed to a scream when the Hunter lifted the shield, revealing a glowing cannon. When the beam had finished, there was nothing left but a pool of smoking protein. The last of the group of hunters sent a sizzling beam of lethal radiation into the area where the commandoes were attempting to take cover, and it ate through the boxes like a hot knife through butter. Leaping forward the Hunter caught up with the fleeing men and smashed down the huge weapon on its arm.

---------------------------------------------

Back in space the fighters of the Fleet of Divine Intervention flew like eagles into the breach where the smaller fighters that opposed them were swarming around one of their battlecruisers. Plasma torpedoes were fired. Instantly their opponents, who knew that one impact was likely to leave them destroyed, broke off the attack. Zipping through the breach the fighters pressed onwards into the fray, hunting down the attackers and getting to close quarters with them as fast as possible. The Alpha fighter swung his fighter onto the tail of one of his most skilled opponents and began to hunt him. His opponent put all his advantages into the works, speed, manoeuvrability, everything. He whipped around the spire of a Nebulon-B frigate. Threading through the defensive cone of fire that radiated towards his fighter, the Alpha followed. Barrel rolling the ace attempted to break the following that he had. But the Alpha pressed his advantage and the whine of a lock was his reward. Trailing blue green flame, the torpedo launched. In a desperate move the pilot inverted his ship and dived. The torpedo still chased him down and with a cry the pilot ejected and abandoned hope. Closing the last few metres the torpedo slammed home. Out of the expanding ball of burning gases came the Alpha, letting the teardrop shaped fighter that he piloted so expertly spiral around and he began his chase of yet another target, even as three others began a chase on him. Now the Alpha had to put his advantage to the test, namely, power. Like a shot he pulled off a tight turn and pushed the fighter to its limits. Twisting, weaving, dodging, this was a flight that none had ever seen before.

----------------------------------

On the ground the Field Commander was pouring over his maps and his holographic command modules when he heard the click and whirr of a pistol charging up. He didn't need to turn his head to know that several commandoes were in the room, all of them pointing weapons at him. For a brief moment he regretted sending his guards outside to deal with the attackers, but then he reminded himself that he was far from helpless.

"You've been killing our friends, scum, and we're going to make sure you suffer for as long as we feel that you need too."

Curious, they assumed he was helpless. Six in total. One was behind him, pistol at his head, two were on either side of him, with blades, ready to inflict torture, and the other three were a step away from him, guns primed and ready to shoot him if he made a mistake. The fact that there were only six of them was mistake enough, though the latter three could give him some trouble if they were quick. He let his muscles relax, knowing that he relied on his reflexes rather than his own personal speed to deal with the problem. With satisfaction he noted the familiar weight of the energy sword on his belt, and noted that if he died he would have no next of kin for it to be passed to, his parents dead and no family or brethren. Still, his duty required this of him, and he would do his duty.

"Put up your hands." Ordered the squad leader, and the Elite acted.

A pivot and the man behind him went down with one leg. One step forward and the hot plasma slashed upwards across the torso of one of the knife men, searing through skin, muscle and bone. The other lunged at him and was rewarded with the hand being severed at the wrist and the blade plunging through his chest. Staccato shots from the others were absorbed into the back of their companion, ensuring his demise at their hands, as the Elite used him as a shield to propel himself forward. Twisting around the body, one quick slash opened the throat of the nearest commando. With a springing leap, the Elite covered the distance between himself and the enemy and chopped down. The blade cut deep into the chest cavity from shoulder to stomach. Shot splattered on his shields as he yanked the blade out, steaming blood evaporating off the blade and dissipating in the air. With a speed which surprised even himself, the Elite blocked a couple of shots and then swept his sword around in a long slow arc. Without even time to scream the head of the squad leader hit the floor. The Elite paused and took one step forward before a shot hit him in the back.

---------------------------------------

"Admiral!"

The GA Admiral quickly turned his head and barked a, "What?"

"The _Darklighter_ has beaten off the attack sir, their heading back this way."

The Admiral threw a quick glance out the viewport. The ship was indeed on its way back.

------------------------------------

On board the ship the hundreds of troops the Covenant had sent over manned their stations with considerable aplomb. They had their orders, and they would follow them to the letter. Destruction would be left in their wake as they quickly overran the galaxy.

------------------------------------

The Admiral stood and walked over to the ships monitors.

"Check the structural integrity. Open a channel."

-----------------------------------------

Back aboard the _Darklighter_, the comm. pinged several times. An Elite Zealot threw a look at it and turned to the captured communications officer.

"What does that signify?" he growled out.

A bruise marked where the operator had suffered a blow after failing to comply with the last "request". "The admiral's ship is hailing us." He replied sullenly.

"What'll happen if we don't reply?"

The officer's eyes flashed up and locked on the Elite. "Reply?" he asked incredulously, "We can't reply, you took out our messaging array, remember?"

----------------------------------------

"Sir."

The admiral turned back to the scanners.

"We cannot establish a certain connection with the battleship sir, their communications equipment was heavily damaged in the attack. The status scan also shows that the hull suffered several serious breaches and those decks have been shut down to prevent further loss of life."

The Admiral turned back to the battleship and narrowed his eyes.

------------------------------------------

Onboard the flagship of the Covenant the Supreme Commander was roaring orders.

"Focus all our attacks on that ship! Now!"

As the command deck bustled with activity, all of it focused on completing their tasks, one of the deck officers leaned over to the Supreme Commander and asked of him, "What is the danger sir?"

With a glare the leader quickly explained in a terse voice, "They're scanning the ship as we speak. They'll pick up our troops."

-------------------------------------

"Check for life signs."

There was a quiet few moments while the crew got about their business.

"Sir, the enemy ships are pressing forward sir. Fighters inbound!"

The admiral jerked his head towards his captain. "Initiate defensive manoeuvres, order the fighters into defensive stance and send word to the rest of the fleet to do the same." With another half turn he sent a message to one of the other officers on the deck. "And find that Jedi for me, will ya."

-----------------------------

The Supreme Commander focused. He could tell that the enemy leader was suspicious of the escaping battleship and his assumed position reinforced that view. The man was wary of the Elites and with good reason. Failure in this was not an option. Fortunately the Supreme Commander had anticipated such a response.

"Give me a link to the ship and the ground." He demanded of his communications officer and he whirled to the gunnery teams.

"Focus our fire on the _Darklighter_!"

----------------------------------

Lethal strobes of energy crisscrossed in the darkness of the void as the lead battleship in the line of the enemy opened fire once again. The plasma torpedoes arced across the night and impacted solidly on the hull of the retreating ship.

* * *

Sorry for the cliffhanger ending, yet again, but it is necessary for the story. The battle will be wrapped up in the next chapter I can assure you.


	29. Chapter 29

Finally, I have returned. Sorry to all who were waiting, I had exams and the like. But I have returned and I am fininshed college. Expect rapid updates as I intend to finish this story before the month is out. Please read and review, or more simply, read and enjoy. That is, after all, the reason I am writing.

* * *

Lances of plasma fire arced across the void an impacted squarely on the surface of the straggling ship. Gouts of flame, fed by the oxygen in the ships interior, spread noiselessly across the empty space. From the _Darklighter_ itself, ruby beams fire back and impacted on the shields of the approaching enemy ships. The GA capital ship began to signal with its lights. Aboard the flagship the Admiral could only stare as the stragglers shields were systematically ripped off.

"Admiral, the _Darklighter_ is losing power fast, shields are down more than seventy percent, projected hull breaches on decks fifteen to one fifty. After this barrage, the ship will be a leaking tub."

The admiral weighed up his choices. If his suspicions were correct, then the enemy had captured their ship, but why would they subsequently fire on it? Worse, why would they try to kill all aboard in a slow, painful assault? Once more he was reminded that the enemy he was facing followed different logic than the one he was using.

"Admiral, we've deciphered the signals!"

"What are they?"

The tech checked his data again. "Ship taken back. Enemy fire unsustainable. Ship lost. Prepare for survivors."

The admiral whirled to one of the weapons stations. "Scan the ship and verify."

With a nod the weapons chief checked his data. "Their shields have collapsed in several places sir, the reactor is spiking and headed for critical. Escape pods are being jettisoned." He looked back at the officer. "It would seem that they are telling the truth sir."

The admiral turned back to the viewport. The choice weighed heavily on his shoulders and burdened him immensely. "Scan the pods for lifeforms."

There was a hum as the computers followed through with this order. At the same time he barked an order for the fighters to engage the enemy more closely. Whirling back he snapped, "Well?"

"Mix of human and non human sir. In standing with the current crew logs."

The admiral made his decision. "Stand by medical bays to receive wounded." He would regret that to his dying day, all of four hours later.

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The medical team waiting at the docking bay where the escape pods had been recovered, were anxious about their jobs. It would seem that the type of burns left by these alien weapons was not the type left by other weapons. Plasma is not like a laser. Plasma eats into things, lasers cut. The nearest pod to them opened and a man stepped forward. He looked like he was about to shout something very important, but unfortunately he was cut off as a blue double pronged blade pierced through his chest. As he fell forward, the three Elite Zealots, who had been behind him in the pod, stepped forward. As people ran in fear at the sight of them the leader smiled.

"Take them!" he ordered into his microphone.

---------------------------------

From the ground the general population of Fondor could see the explosion. The flagship had vanished into a cloud of fiery gases and vapours. Burning bits of debris would continue to fall on the planet's surface for the next couple of weeks from the massive fireball that had consumed much of the fleet. It had taken only a matter of minutes for the rapid Elites to cart the bomb they had been carrying to a point close to the reactor. From there they simply had to deposit the bomb, set it and get out. They had performed their job within a matter of minutes. The blast of the 300 megaton yield bomb had consumed both the flagship and most of the surrounding ships. The GA's close formation had been their downfall. Thos ships that hadn't been eaten up by the explosion were struck by huge pieces of debris, followed up by pulse lasers from the Covenant which cut through their already weakened shields. On the ground, the sudden releasing of troops and ships from above had a sudden effect. The blast had barely subsided when the Supreme Commander was sending more troops to the surface. The handful of transports that the GA had left had started to evacuate the ground forces, which had immediately broken off their attack to secure their own positions. At that point the Supreme Commander himself was on his way down to the surface.

-----------------------------------------

"Status report." Barked the Commander.

The Elite on the other end of the line looked a tad grim. "Out of our beginning fifty thousand troops, we have lost six thousand, two hundred. Total loss of armour, of which we had one hundred fifty tanks, sixty five. Of our losses in the air, less than a hundred of the one thousand we put out."

The Supreme Commander drummed his finger on the edge of the seat he was in. "How about our defences? Did they hold up to a sustained assault?"

The Elite nodded enthusiastically. "Yes indeed Supreme Commander. They will come in very effective in the battles to come."

Focusing the Supreme Commander noted something. "What happened? There is something that you haven't reported. I want the truth."

Mandibles twitched on the other end of the link. Clearly the Elite did not want to be the one who broke the news.

"Out with it."

"The Field Commanders base camp was attacked by GA commandoes. They successfully infiltrated the camp and attacked."

"And?"

"The entire force was annihilated by the Hunters, but…"

"Speak your piece warrior."

The Elite's spine hardened. "The Field Master is in a critical condition. He was shot at almost point blank range by a commandoes last shot. It bypassed his shields and struck him in the lower back. It's quite possible that he will not survive the night."

-------------------------------------------

The Supreme Commander was in shock. Firstly, the Field Master was one of his oldest friends, the two had trained together, and he was not so weak as to get caught off guard. Respect for his enemies rose, even as his rage against them did also. His forces would need to not underestimate them. For a while he just sat there, completely unaware of his surroundings, barely hearing the hustle and bustle of the staff around him. This really brought the pain home. It was a war they could not win, his plan now seeming even more out of reach. Painfully he realised that at this rate, all his command would be dead within the year. It could not go on. This war needed to be ended, and quickly. But he still did not want to believe it, his blood brother was on the brink of death. How many more were in that condition? How many more would lose relatives, friends, clan members? It was his fault, for leading them here. No, he mentally snapped at himself, now was not the time for despair, now was not the time for self reflection. What mattered now was how many lives he could save. Dimly he heard someone speaking to him. Finally some good news.

---------------------------------------------

"Supreme Commander?"

"Speak."

"The planet, Naboo, has joined the Covenant."

There was silence. Then the harbinger spoke again.

"But they have stated they will not render any military assistance. They are not a warlike people."

The Supreme Commander drummed his fingertips on the armrest of his command throne.

"Ask them if they are able to lend medical assistance. We have many wounded."

* * *

This is the beginning of the end. From now, until the final battle of Correllia.


	30. Chapter 30

Man this took forever to write. Also, it may seem a little rushed. There was som much I wanted to write, yet so much of it got lost before I could write it that it seems somewht disjointed. But the finale draws near. To all my reviewers, Hucha, thanks, the Rangers are awesome in game so they must be awesome here, Guardian of High charity, sorry, but no new High Charity. A Super Carrier in action however, may suffice, I don't know. Starwing Bravo and BlackDragonG thank you very much. I hope you like what comes after this chapter. Now. on with the show.

* * *

"This is an outrage!"

All around the Senate was in an uproar. Naboo's Senator had just announced her planet's joining the Covenant, and already things were beginning to heat up.

"I would go so far as to call this a blatant violation of the Articles of Agreement."

"Your home planet has breached every treaty we have forged together and you stand there with no explanation?"

"This is treason!"

"Order!" the Chief of State bellowed from her perch above the rest of the group. Her voice barely carried over the heads of the roaring crowd of normally dignified senators. Several prominent members of the auspicious house appeared to be on the verge of losing their rags and physically assaulting the Naboo delegation. That was not to say that the firey red haired senator that was the voice of the Naboo government on the galactic stage was exactly quiet either. She just couldn't be heard over the rest of the din.

"Order!" the Chief cried again, and at this point, accompanied by the projected peaceful front carried by several members of the Jedi Order who were present, the order actually came. Senators quieted their noisy voices and settled down somewhat. "Finally. May I remind you citizens, that we are the galactic government of the Galactic Alliance. We are supposed to be somewhat dignified. I am certain we can address this matter in a reasonable fashion like the dignitaries that we are. Now I believe that the honourable senator from the state of Naboo was explaining to us this matter of their defection to our new enemy."

All eyes turned to the senator who straightened and began to give her proclamation in a proper tone. "My thanks honourable chair. I come before you today to announce that my home planet of Naboo has decided to join the Covenant. I do not like this decision any more than any of you," she said holding up a hand to forestall any further shouting matches, "but it is what has been decided by my state and I must agree with that decision. I will depart from this chamber when the session has ended."

--------------------------------

Noise bean to rise again when the Chief of State called for silence once again. "Thank you for the explanation Senator, but I do not think that the rest of the Senate are as easy to assuage as that."

"I for one am not!" the senator from Kuat was up in an instant, rage showing on his Kuati face. "They have already seized Fondor and its shipyards, the senator from that planet has been in his own chambers for the past five hours. If they are targeting industrial planets, we could be next on their list of targets. Where did they get the information for these planets may I so humbly ask the senator of Naboo?" his tone was anything but humble.

Senator Naboo narrowed her eyes. She was in no way incapable of giving as good as she got. "Are you implying that my planet gave information away to, what was at that time, our enemy and invader?"

There were rumbles of assent throughout the assembly.

She shook her head. "Ours was not the first planet they'd been to. In fact, I must ask the question of who actually gave the warning to you when they first arrived. We got out no distress signals."

Silence reigned as the rest of the senators realised that the information that the Covenant had obtained was available from every navi-computer in the galaxy. However, questions continued to fly.

"How long did it take them to capture your planet?" an unknown senator spoke from the darkness.

"A shockingly short time. When they actually invaded it took them a total of forty minutes to have seized control over every major point on the planet."

------------------------

A new voice, not that of a senator spoke from the corner. "How did they fight?"

The senator turned and spoke a little critically, "I don't think I'm best suited to answer that Grand Master, I wasn't there."

The Grand Master of the Jedi Order smiled to himself and continued. "A warlike species enters the galaxy, visits an unknown planet, then captures a planet which has been a bastion of democracy for this universe for many, many years. There they defeat an army, defeat a larger fleet using superior weapons and shields and they kill a Jedi. Those all deserve some answers, don't you think?"

"Indeed, but you are not a member of this house Master Jedi and therefore are not eligible to ask such questions." The Chief of State reminded him.

The Grand Master continued. "As I am fully aware, your honour. But, this is something that affects us all, regardless of our position in life. I want more to know about the state of their forces, how many ships they used, how many planets they have attacked and why. Most importantly I want to know if we will be seeing Naboo troops in the vanguard?"

That brought an uncomfortable silence. Even throughout their ranting, none of the senators wanted to address the prickly issue, that of military action.

The red hair moved as the Naboo Senator shook her head. "We have sworn not to provide military assistance to their campaign. Rather we have agreed to lend medical expertise. They have sent us all their wounded troops and prisoners." She paused, "There are quite a few of both."

"At least we can actually harm the troops." Muttered one of the Chief of States aides. His voice went unnoticed in the midst of all the other thoughts along the similar lines.

----------------------------------

At that point one of the stands, for the Fondor delegation, came active. The Senator from Fondor stood in the midst of it with his aides. He began what must have been a prepared speech.

"Citizens of the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances, it is my harsh duty to inform you that the planet Fondor has surrendered to the Covenant. The fleet that you sent to break the siege and the occupation has failed and has been reduced by more than half. The Covenant has accepted the surrender that they demanded. Should we have refused, our planet would have been forcibly seized. As a result, I must withdraw my delegation and return to my home planet, there to join with the new governing body. And I have this message from the Supreme Commander of the Fleet of Divine Intervention."

Here he paused and placed a little holographic projector on the podium in front of himself. From it a hologram grew and finally showed an image of the purple clad Elite. A menacing look was in his eyes and he was glaring balefully at the host of Senators.

"You!" he growled out. "Take a good look at your enemy. Where you are many, we are few, where you are strong, we are weak, and where you are weak we are strong. I have read your histories Galactic Alliance. I have studied your predecessors and I know everything I need to know to destroy you, which I will if I must. Perhaps, if anything, this will teach you not to strike before you know what it is you hunt. We are the Fleet of Divine Intervention, and by the will of the gods we will see you burn where you stand should we meet again in battle. Know this, I will not rest until I have established a home and the protection of my people. If that means fighting a war to seize territory then I will. But let me promise you this, attack us again, and we will teach you to fear us, to have us haunt your dreams at night and to see us in every shadow as you pass your street corners. Your actions have lead to the deaths of almost ten thousand of my comrades, due to the foolish actions of yourselves, the paranoid officials that you are, just as your actions damned the galaxy time after time. Now we will…" he paused and looked out of the recording sphere for a moment. When his eyes focused back they were smouldering with a furious passion. "So, you continue to attack my people, you continue to endanger the lives of my underlings, the Sangheili, Unggoy and Mgalekgolo under my authority, whose protection is my concern. You dare to harm the only family I have left! This is war! I had hoped that you would hold off your next attack so I could try to establish the talks of peace, but no, you have chosen this road. Well let me make you this solemn vow. I swear to you that when we are finished the title of Divine Intervention will burn forever in your memory! We are coming for you!"

With a switch the picture cut. There was immediate uproar. The Senators from Naboo and Fondor thought it wise to leave before they were noticed.

--------------------------------

Later an evacuation of Coruscant was arranged. Six military leaders, several the most famous of the age, and one Jedi Grand Master conversed.

"Where all have they taken that we know of?"

"Fondor, Hoth, Hypori, Naboo, Nelvaan, Tatooine, we aren't certain how many."

"Which one was attacked?"

"Tatooine."

"But we never sent any.."

"I know, it was the Hutts."

"Sithspit."

"Exactly. They just launched a campaign against us for something we didn't do."

------------------------------------

Over Tatooine, the blasted and burning hulks of seventy Hutt warships twisted and fell. The Grunts had held their own, holding the attackers back despite huge odds until support came. The Elite had shown no mercy. The entire Hutt fleet was gone, along with several of the Syndicates key figures. The galaxy would later thank the One Hundred and Six, but they were unaware of the service they had been rendered, and the fleet itself was not aware of what it had done. They had been bolstered with extra forces, but the Supreme Commander had left them behind to guard the retaken planet. Seventeen thousand and four hundred Unggoy had fallen in the battle and the Fleet was fully prepared to take revenge. Aboard the Super Carrier the Supreme Commander tightened his grip on the armrests and gave the order that would alter destiny.

"Make the slip Navigator."

The Fleet, all original One Hundred and Six, made the jump. Their destination was Correllia.

* * *

And so our heroes little dance with fate draws unto the final number. Just so you know, the Grand Master is Luke Skywalker, older however, and the Generals with him were Han, Wedge Gavin Darklighter and Jagged Fel. Until the next battle folks.


	31. Chapter 31

Onboard the Corellian spacedock, an ensign was enjoying the quiet of a routine day. Ships were being processed and constructed and he had almost nothing to do except keep an eye on the stars. So that's what he did. He kept his eyes on the horizon, letting the vast expanse of nothingness that was space become his own personal backyard. It was a wonderful feeling, to know that you were responsible for this area of space, and that you alone were. As he watched the sky, he noted something. Roughly halfway across the system, there was a large distortion starting to form. He checked his instruments again. Yes, there it was, forming up roughly a billion kilometres away. More to the point, the ensign felt that there was something important about this particular distortion, something familiar. As he watched, the distortion grew. Now he was starting to feel a little apprehensive. Then suddenly, where the distortion had been, it suddenly sharpened, focused, gathered together and formed a portal. Out of the portal came one of the largest ships he had ever seen. More portals formed all around it and hundreds more ships began to pour out of space. It hit the ensign, just as they all launched their first torpedoes.

"Red alert! We're under attack!"

------------------------------------

The Fleet of Divine Intervention came out of Slipspace and immediately launched plasma torpedoes. From the decks of the Assault Carriers swarmed hundreds of fighters. With great precision and unison the fleet accelerated to their maximum speed and poured on the acceleration. On the bridge the Supreme Commander watched, hand stroking his chin, as the station got closer.

"Supreme Commander, their defence batteries are orienting on us."

"Crush them! I want the dock boarded as fast as possible." He looked over at the weapons control. "Fire pulse lasers!"

From the prows of the lead ships, lances of pure purple energy shot out. The defence turrets barely had a chance to let off their first salvo when the lasers impacted. Shields collapsed and they sliced right through.

"Ships incoming." Reported the sensory officer.

"Types?"

"They appear to be cruisers."

"Divert a few _CCS'_s of the third fleet to deal with them."

--------------------------------------

Splitting away from the main group the third fleet's _CCS_ class Battlecruisers began to open fire on the approaching star cruisers of Corellia. From a range of almost two thousand kilometres, they opened up. Laser blasts shot past the Covenant ships. They waited until the range had divided by half, most shots impacting off their stronger shields, then they launched their own counterattack. Plasma shattered on the shields of the Corellians, but their shields held, if only barely. Pushing their ships to the maximum speed they came in for the attack as fast as was possible. Again the distance closed, the Corellians never letting up their fire all the way. The Supreme Commander, watching from where he was, had to marvel at their tenacity, and their engineering. While the Covenant had to channel their power either to their guns or their engines, the Corellians could maintain fire regardless of their speed. He doubted that this would be sustainable, but it gave them a slight advantage.

"Supreme Commander!"

"Yes?" he swivelled in his chair back to the fight.

"The enemy have launched the ships they have in the dock. They're on their way now."

The Supreme Commander let the lenses over his eyes display the information to him as he plotted a course of action. "Send, a squadron of battlecruisers and frigates to handle them, then concentrate our efforts on the dock. I want it in our hands within the hour."

The Communications officer looked a little pale when he turned to give his own little report. "Sir, the dreadnaught under construction here, has been moved as well. It is headed for us."

----------------------------------

In his view, the Supreme Commander could see it clearly. It was almost twice the size of his largest ship. It was time for his Super Carrier to take its first taste of battle.

"Super Carrier, this is the Supreme Commander. We are going into battle!"

Throughout the ship rang a huge cheer as the massive behemoth of a warship moved out from behind its protective screen, and began its advance on this monster which challenged it.

The two warships headed straight for one another. Even as they moved out, starfighters swirled around them, lasers and plasma torpedoes shooting everywhere until the darkness turned o light in their brilliance. Then the two ships opened fire. The pulse laser from the Super Carrier smashed straight into the shields of the Dreadnaughts prow. But the Corellian ship answered blow for blow. Gouts of scarlet flame echoed across the void, smashing into the shields of the Covenant ship. Each shot was capable of dishing out a near fifty million terra-joules of energy per shot, and it was only thanks to the miracle of technical engineering that the ships shields held. Plasma shots impacted on the bows of the Super Dreadnaught as the two behemoths settled into trying to turn each other to slag. But the Supreme Commanders thoughts were racing. Each kilometre that they came closer to each other, increased his concern. The Dreadnaught was a bigger ship than his, and most of its weapon emplacements were along the lateral lines. Broadsiding his ship would enable it to launch a hugely powerful attack on him. By stark contrast, his ship had little in the way of lateral weaponry, except for…

"Helmsman!"

"Supreme Commander?"

"Roll us on our side before we pass alongside the enemy ship and drive us past them. Gunnery Chief!"

"Supreme Commander?"

"Prepare all the pulse lasers on our underside. We'll slice them from stem to stern!"

* * *

There you have it. The first part of the account of the Covenants final battle. This will determine their fate. Apologies about the delay, but I've had a lot on my plate.


	32. Chapter 32

Again, apologies both for the delay and the length of the chapter. Work is murder, and so is studying for my repeat exam. (Fricking hate Land Law. Zippo cases.) Several valid points were made by my reviewer Cody MacArthur Fett, I had better address them. I took your advice and read up on Halopedia. Grunts do hate the cold, they covet any heat they can find and it was one of the reasons they joined the Covenant in the first place. You can pull a Scarab down using tow cables, provided you attach one to each leg and pull in opposite directions, away from the centre of gravity. The legs hinge outwards, making it easier to do. Sorry if the description was lacking for that part of the story. As for the energy projector, you are correct. I had them and pulse lasers mixed up. My mistake, and I mean to rectify it. However, since the energy projector is used for glassing, we'll just assume that it hasn't been used yet. My thanks for the pointers, I realise now the problem. Anyway, on with the battle.

* * *

Fighters zipped in and around the maze of ships and structures that was the construction dock. In the lead Seraph, the Alpha Elite pilot kept his eyes on his systems. According to this, there were three of the smaller enemy fighters on his tail. A quick juke of his control column spun the fighter around a spire. His opponents following suit in seconds. There was no apprehension in his lungs, his breathing was perfectly stable and measured. Even if he hadn't been in the midst of a dangerous battle he would still have been calm. The best pilots retain their cool when in the midst of battle, so to the best soldiers. The minute a fighter forgot his cool, was the minute his chances of dying became much, much greater. With a calmness that scared anyone who would have witnessed it, he flipped the fighter so it was travelling backwards, and launched his first torpedo. In close pursuit the fighters never noticed the torpedo until it was too late. The lead fighter got smacked right on the nose. What was left of his craft blossomed into a bright orange flame. Even as his cohorts passed the wreckage, the Alpha had again, flipped the fighter and was headed directly through the superstructure of the dock. Lasers fired from the wingtip cannons on these fighters, passing all around his fighter and impacting on the steel of the dock. Some equally hit the fighter. A casual look at his sensors reminded him that they were at seventy-five percent capacity. They must have given their guns an upgrade.

-------------------------------

He dealt with the next fighter in a similar fashion. A quick flick of the stick brought him around a column long enough for the other two fighters to pass him by. Spinning the Alpha brought his fighter onto their tails and let the first on have it. The torpedo smashed through shield and metal shell. It torched a reaction chamber and the fighter detonated with a huge explosion. The Alpha smiled grimly and continued his pursuit of his comrade. The nimble fighter flicked from side to side, desperately trying to evade his pursuer. The Alpha kept a close eye on his target and at exactly the right time, he fired. The torpedo passed the fighter with metres to spare and the GA pilot almost laughed at the misfire. Except that it wasn't a misfire. With a burst of flame the shot impacted on the side of the dock up ahead of him. In a gout of flame and burning debris, the side of the structure exploded. With a scream the fighter flew straight into the inferno. Only a quick, nimble twist of the yoke allowed the Alpha to escape the explosion. Only the strongest survived, he murmured to himself. Drawing back the yoke he watched as the troop transports headed for the planet's surface.

----------------------------------

Hundreds of soldiers were gathered ahead of the nearest landing ship. The ship was actually a frigate but had been drawn in for this task. Nervously they waited for the moment when the hatch would open and the battle would begin, but they had a chance now to stop them here, before they got any further. The Covenant would find it quite difficult to get through them. At that point the doors slid open and they could see inside. There was nothing but pure darkness. But then out of the darkness there was a snap and a hiss. A glowing beam of standing energy appeared. The Covenant Jedi. The Elite marched out, dressed in white armour and stared at them. Then came the worst sound possible, the sound of multiple activations. The darkness behind the lead Elite suddenly burst into life as over a hundred of the strange lightsabers burst into life. In their glowing light they also illuminated the six Hunters who were with them.

"Jedi!"

With a battle roar the entire force charged out of the gap, blaster bolts doing nothing to them as they charged. Any who stood against them were sliced into pieces. The rest bolted and fled.

-----------------------------------------

As the defenders of the planet fled in fear from their "Jedi" attackers, the Elite moved in. Four _CCS_ Battlecruisers and an Assault Carrier swept down from the heavens and disgorged their massive payloads. They spared nothing in the advance, for the first time wielding their incredibly powerful weaponry to full effect; actively bombarding strongpoint's which were resisting. The Supreme Commander had decreed that they would hold nothing back, except a total glassing, but ordered that every stop be pulled out. Plasma torpedoes smashed anything that dared to hold a position of defiance. Mortar shells smashed tanks, and walkers and artillery where they stood. Thousands of Elites and Grunts tore through the city. Nothing stood before them. The Grunts fought to avenge their dead comrades who had held the planet of Tatooine for so long. Scarabs in their droves tore down walls, structures; anything that could stand up to the conventional assault was destroyed by them. Overhead Phantoms and Banshees seared through the sky, their howling a constant reassurance to the Covenant, and a constant harbinger of sorrow for the GA. The Covenant did not so much have air superiority as air dominance, the Supreme Commander had hurled the bulk of his forces into this battle and the number of Banshees showed it. They immediately went for the fighter bases, wiped them out in seconds. Then the Phantoms could move in. Using this superiority they bypassed any major strongpoints, leaving them for the artillery and heavier vehicles. Airborne troops seized major points, communications centres, transport control towers, water supplies. Spec Ops troops went even farther, infiltrating and seizing government buildings, taking down shield generators and shutting down power generators. With all their systems failing, the GA forces opted to go to ground and fight guerrilla style. Awaiting reinforcements they prepared for their own individual sieges.

-------------------------------------

Unfortunately for the Covenant, the Corellian system had one major distinction from any other. It was a system with five planets in it. Now that, in and of itself was not a major distinction, many of the systems in the galaxy had multiple planets in them. However, Corellia was different in the way which exposed the singular fatal flaw in the Covenant attack strategy. The other planets were inhabited. The second the Fleet of Divine Intervention appeared, the other planets raised the alarm. And it got out. The Galactic Federation of Free Alliances prepared for the ultimate showdown with their new enemy, and the Supreme Commander knew they were going to show eventually. He was counting on it.

* * *

And the pieces draw nearer to the end of the conflict. Finally.


	33. Chapter 33

Ah, mes amies. We are drawing closer to the end. Thanks for all reviews, I love it when I get them, but I am equally glad to hear that people are enjoying this story. Work is murder at the moment, and writing is getting harder and harder to do. How I long for the beginning of college again, it will make life so much easier. Anyway, to the story. The Hundred and Six are launching their first assault in their last battle. For good or ill, this is the beginning of the end of their campaign.

* * *

Long range laser fire began to impact around the advancing Covenant force on the ground. Laser blasts from cannons smashed through. Elevated turbolaser towers and plasma cannons were firing in the attempts to hold back the advancing Covenant forces. Gouging huge divots ouch of solid permacrete, the massive force of the explosions were enough to send hundreds flying themselves. Out from one of his scanning points, one of the zealots in charge of the attack chanced a quick scan of the area ahead. Converging on a mountain slope just outside of the city, the heavy guns were in the process of shoring up one of the defending bunkers . With them covering the ground, the footsoldiers were making their way inside the bunker, ready to hold off the attack as long as possible. Equally, around the base of the mountain, the GA were massing their tanks.

"Field Master!"

In his command centre, the recently acquired capital building, the Field Master looked up from his maps. His forces had seized most of the heart of the capital city Coronet, and were already spreading into the surrounding countryside, although their progress was slower than before, due to their consolidation process. The Supreme Commander was not after a quick victory this time, he wanted them utterly subjugated. "Go ahead."

"We are encountering heavy artillery fire from one of the mountains outside the capital city. We are requesting air support."

The Field Master smiled to himself. This was something that he wanted himself. The Elite was a firm believer in the use of ground forces for victory, he had seized several human worlds before using solely his ground troops. Besides, humans set so much by their ground forces tenacity, it was better for them to lose without the air attacks. It crushed their spirits as well as their armies. "Hold the air support, for a while at least. What is their situation?"

"They are entrenched and are massing their tanks for a counter attack. I haven't seen any of their air units, but they will probably appear at some stage."

"Then hold the air assault for the time being. I want them to understand that we will be victorious over them on any field of battle. Send in the Wraiths and our own heavy artillery."

-----------------------------------------------

With a whirring sound the Covenant armoured corps began to advance. Only recently had they been deployed and they were now about to prove their mettle to their foes. Unfortunately for the Corellian defenders of the system, most of whom were new recruits they had obtained after the Shadow War, the Armoured Brigade of the Fleet of Divine Intervention were well regarded veterans. They had taken part in some of the earlier battles with the UNSC, back in the early days when the humans had had their full strength, or as close to it as they had ever been. It had been hard to find a battle which didn't end in a glassing, but there had been some, and the Wraiths had proven themselves constantly.

"The Brigade will advance to the rendezvous point and there will duel the Defence Batteries of this planet. On my orders, forward."

With the customary hum of their propulsion systems the Wraths began their advance. Accompanying them were not only AA Wraiths, but also Locusts, the mobile artillery platforms that were the younger siblings of the Scarabs. Three Scarabs were also in attendance, their massive armoured frames smoothly moving forward over the rough terrain. They were a formidable force, one that was set to prove themselves as a thing of nightmares for the GA in the coming days. Slowly but surely, they came within range.

Aware of the threat and the challenge from the Covenant artillery, the GA had set their weapons and started firing the moment they came within range. High powered laser blasts slammed into the ground ahead of the moving column, but they pressed on, even after the blasts hit home several times. While the less powerful blasts were not enough to beat the armour and shielding on some of the pieces, the larger cannon blasts vaporised several Wraiths where they stood, their plasma cores overreacting and detonating in plumes of blue fire and steam. But it was not enough to hold back the tide and the artillery reached their firing point, well inside their maximum range. With a precision rarely seen the Wraiths arranged themselves into their firing positions. Behind them, Locusts unlimbered and raised their heads. The Scarabs deigned to prepare to fire.

"All units prepare to fire."

The battery raised their cannons.

-----------------------------------------

"Fire!"

Plumes of cobalt fire spiralled into the sky, arcing gracefully, over three thousand of them. For a brief moment they lit the sky with an unholy brilliance and cast long shadows over the mountainside. Sailing through the sky, even the gunners of the turbolasers paused briefly to watch, before they reached the apex of their climb. Then they began to fall. Hurriedly the defenders, a mixed bag of human and non human, scrambled to take cover. Impact was imminent. With a shockwave large enough to topple the nearest turbolaser tower, the shells impacted. Plasma shells tore the smaller tanks and positions apart, blockhouses and smaller bunkers were melted under the unstoppable barrage.

"Return fire!"

The Corellian artillery spoke in answer. Their long red beams of liquid light plowed into shields and cut through armour with a practiced ease. Rolling with the kick the cannons slid silently back on their hydraulics and back into the ready fire positions. The Covenant immediately started their own rapid barrage. Each and every artillery piece began to fire at will, coalescing balls of superheated matter splashing into everything that was in range. Missiles were fired from the Corellian side, their trails leaving a purple haze in the air before they shattered a tank on impact. The very noise of the duel alone was loud enough to reach the upper atmosphere, and citizens on the other side of the planet felt the tremors of the blasts.

"Field Master!"

The call came from the battle above, where the Covenant fleet was busy destroying the opposition.

"Supreme Commander, this is an honour."

"My thanks Field Master, what is the situation with that artillery exchange?"

"I felt it wise to have the artillery destroy the enemy on the ground in a way that showed our superiority."

"An excellent idea, Field Master, but we have other objectives."

"But Supreme Commander…."

"It is a good strategy, but one we have not the time for. We need to seize as much of the planet as possible, that is our primary objective. I will send some Vampires out to take care of the blockage, but we need the artillery for more important tasks. Fire!"

The last word was spoken to his gunners, who put a hole in the dreadnaught attacking them using the gravity projector, causing some of the dreadnaughts crew to spill out into the vacuum of space. The dreadnaught gave as good as it got as well, however, and turbolaser blasts pounded into the hull of the Super Carrier. Over the noise the Supreme Commander continued his orders.

"We will need the artillery for the inevitable counter attack. The enemy have been going to ground everywhere, they are obviously awaiting assistance."  
"I will obey Supreme Commander, as you have said."

"Maintain the barrage until the air strike arrives, but after that, send in the troops."

"Acknowledged."

* * *

As I said, the end is nigh, and death and fire will follow for many thousands before this battle is over. Stay tuned.


	34. Chapter 34

Apologies about the delay. I have but one all covering excuse. College. If you want I can give you a second one as well. Work. Busy, busy, busy. Life is constantly busy. Now, to answer some questions. Athanor, the Mandalorians haven't reacted, because the Covies haven't attacked Mandalore. Mandalorians are a bit of an isolationist society. They stay out of Galactic Politics for the most part. Either that or they are Galactic Politics. However, rest assured that the Mando's, if necessary, will come to the battle. However, as you can see from this chapter, this will most likely not be needed. On with the chapter.

* * *

Surrounded on all sides, the Dreadnaughts slowly crumbled, its shields giving way under the strain of trying to hold back the relentless barrage of plasma fire that the surrounding ships were pumping into it. The battle had never been in doubt, the entire defence devastated by the swift and relentless attack, the superior firepower of the Covenant leaving the Corellians in disarray. On the ground, the defensive tactics of the defenders had left the Covenant slowed, but even more determined for it. Right now the space battle was no longer an issue, the Home Fleet of Corellia having been crushed by the bold assault. Only the dreadnaught remained, doggedly holding out with its superior shields and weaponry, yet even now the behemoth was falling. Entire patches of the hull were open and vulnerable to the heavy duty plasma fire of the Covenant Fleet. Impacts from plasma torpedoes had gouged furrows out of the hull and sent fissures across the armour, cracking it and sending shockwaves across the ship. The dreadnaught was bound to fall within a short amount of time anyway, but now its crew seemed hell bent on causing as much damage as they could before the inevitable. The Supreme Commander watched as it sent out another salvo of laser fire, the scarlet beams slicing into another one of his battlecruisers and causing shards of metal and gouts of flames to erupt and consume the escaping oxygen. A frown marred his features as the Sangheili noted the losses that he would encumber in that incident. Four ships had been lost, despite the surprise of their attack and the state of their enemies. If the GA sent more super destroyers after them he'd have to adopt the old tactics that Regret's fleet had used in their attack upon Earth, that of sending boarding teams with bombs. Perhaps he should have adopted a more hit and run approach to his campaign, should have struck, then faded away into the shadows. Something of the kind had been very effective against the Alliance before, he remembered from the accounts he'd read. After all, that warlord, Grand Admiral Thrawn, had had considerable success with the system of attack. But therein lay the main flaw with that attack pattern. Any subsequent warlords who attempted to use such tactics would have the appropriate response levelled on them. The GA had the resources, at this point, to actually send out hunting teams and small fleets to scout. Besides, the best way to deal with hit and run tactics was to set up an ambush and draw in an opponent. The bait on the anvil and the hammer close by. No, he would not make that mistake. His randomised attacks left his enemies off balance; his quick victories had left them unaware of his gains. His tactics until now had been erratic and unpredictable. That was the necessary edge he needed.

* * *

As his ships closed in on the planet to begin bombarding any outposts, the Supreme Commander ordered that his gunners obliterate the dreadnaught. Then he left the bridge. Around him the crew kept to their work, attentive to their duties and aware of their commander's presence. The Supreme Commander purposefully ignored them. Duty was a burden; they did not need another distraction from it. The shockwave that rocked the ship momentarily was greeted with a loud cheer as the comm. loudly proclaimed that the dreadnaught was destroyed. The Supreme Commander kept himself from sighing with relief. The dreadnaught had held them back, almost singlehandedly, for the better part of fifteen hours. The first stage of the battle was done and he was going to make contact with the ground crews.

* * *

On the ground itself the battle went differently. Covenant air artillery was kept on a constant patrol, eliminating anything that made an appearance. Most of the Corellian armour and emplaced heavy weapons had been reduced to smouldering ash, the columns of smoke from twisted metal carcases turning the sky a dark black and red. But just because the artillery and armour had been defeated didn't mean that the Corellians were beaten. Far from it in fact, as the small scale ambushes and lethal skirmishes continued to prove. Here and there a Covenant soldier would tip over as a sniper round punched through his skull, provoking a panicked response from the troops around who'd immediately dive for cover. Street fighting and foxhole assaults had become the norm, the fights short, sharp and brutal. Fortunately for the Corellians, the Covenant did not include Brutes, many of whom would not have stopped at military casualties. The Elites however, despite what they had done in the past to human worlds, avoided civilian casualties wherever possible. In the years afterwards, Corellians would look back on their enemies that day and comment on their unusual restraint and code of honour. Where possible the Covenant evacuated humans, where not they shielded them. Women and children were ordered into basements and civilian reprisals were avoided, a major difference from the previous war that had ravaged the galaxy. But it was also agreed upon afterwards by many military historians, that the Elites had a secondary motive for their actions. Bombing and air artillery were restricted in built up areas for the reason of keeping cover intact. The Covenant could afford to get involved in street fighting because they had the advantage in their shielding technology. Civilian casualties were avoided strenuously for the simple reason of cultivating a good image in the eyes of the galaxy which vastly outnumbered them. They were not intending to hold the planet long enough to actually encounter civil unrest, and in the heat of battle there was no threat of it anyway. And while the Corellian sniper fire was lethal against Grunts and the like, the more anatomically complex and hardy composition of the Elites made them less susceptible to the guerrilla tactics of the Corellian military. Snipers were flushed out, but the buildings they were in were left intact if possible. If not, then they reduced them to ashes. The best manner of dealing with the isolated pockets, the Covenant had found, was not available to them. The second best was that which they attack used. Patrols and battle units roamed the streets, locating and devastating enemies with their superior numbers and equipment.

* * *

The Field Master watched as his personal detail stood on top alert around him, all of them well aware of what had happened the last time they had failed in their duty of guarding a commander. They had no wish to repeat a version of that incident, it not only being a blot on their own personal record, but also the loss of that particular commander had led to serious difficulties for that army. Now they were constantly vigilant, the Hunters going so far as to stand beside him at all times. It was both a comfort and an annoyance. Their presence made sure he was safe, but it also made it difficult to command properly. His hand absentmindedly twitched over his energy sword. The shock troops armed with energy swords had successfully driven the initial defence aside like they were nothing at all, the Corellians giving way like they were seeing an army of ghosts. Briefly the Field Master cast his mind back to the Duel on Naboo, the nature of the battle earning it the honorific, and the skill and weapon of the human who had fought against them. He had wielded an energy weapon with both skill and precision. According to the Supreme Commander the weapon was capable of shearing through any armour and he still felt that the plasma sword was the weaker of the two weapons. If more of those fighters turned up, they would have a much more difficult battle ahead of them.

* * *

In his private chambers aboard the Super Carrier in orbit, the Supreme Commander slipped into his meditation. It was much easier here, he found, to just fade into the meditation. Traditionally all swordsmen would do so before a battle, to focus on the task ahead, to clear their minds of distractions. He had been doing this since the campaign had begun. For one, it had given him the strength he needed to survive this war, and his focus seemed better as a result. But that in itself was odd. His focus was better than ever, despite the fact that he had not slept in almost two months and that he was under combat strain. His tactical abilities were getting better and better, at times it seemed as if he knew what the enemy were going to do before they did it. The two tone warning system summoned him once again to the bridge. While he had officers to deal with the threat, the fact remained that he needed to maintain a presence; he needed to be seen by the crews and officer corps. His fleet, his responsibility, his followers. Their lives were in his hands, the least he could do was watch over them.

"What's the situation Ship Master?"

The Ship Master didn't bother to say anything. He just pointed.

* * *

Out of hyperspace, at the point between the two planets of the outer rim of the system, came ships. Ships of the Galactic Alliance, a fleet of them. Or rather, several fleets. Not hundreds of ships, but thousands. The scales had suddenly tipped heavily in the other side's favour and the Covenant knew, in the moment, that they were not going to win.

* * *

There you have it gentlemen and ladies, the end is nigh for the Covenant. To be honest, there was never much doubt in the outcome. But how will they react? That is the real question. Legends are about to be made. My thanks to all reviewers and all readers. I'm writing this for your entertainment, so please enjoy. "Are you not entertained?" Please feel free to let me know what you think of the story. Until the next chapter, farewell.


	35. Chapter 35

My apologies for the delay. This is the last battle beginning in earnest.

* * *

The first barrage of laser fire crashed into the prows of the swiftly repositioning ship of the Covenant Fleet. The Supreme Commander rushed to the bridge, his meditation interrupted for the moment. Alarms continued to ring as hundreds of incoming torpedoes were picked out of the sky by the point defence weaponry. Fighters flashed towards them as the squadrons of the Covenant met their overwhelming numbers in point blank combat. Two tone warning noises indicated the continued arrival of more and more ships. The Supreme Commander slammed himself into his command chair and activated his communications.

"Fleet Masters, prepare your squadrons and form tight formation around the Super Carrier. Fighters, stay close to the main battle fleet and use them as cover from the superior numbers. Hold off their fighters and prepare yourselves for bombardment."

A quick flick of a switch and he opened a channel to the ground forces at his disposal.

"Yes Supreme Commander?"

"Field Master, prepare your ground forces for an invasion of massive proportions. Set up defensive perimeters. Galactic Alliance forces have arrived."

"Understood Supreme Commander."

_*******_

_Aleph_s and Eta 5 interceptors rushed forward, engaging the defending _Seraph_s which took them head on, plasma blazing against laserfire. Circling the battleships, the Covenant fighters didn't dare leave their shade and protection for fear of falling prey to the larger numbers of the Galactic Alliance. The battlecruisers themselves traded fire back and forth with the much faster firing and numerous GA fleet. Once the attackers had come out of hyperspace the fleet had gathered themselves together around the shipyards, forming into a dome shaped defensive position which would allow them to focus their fire on the incoming ships better and to use their overlapping shields as a means of covering themselves.

"Hold our defensive positions here. Support the fighters and maintain position. Utilise the shipyards as cover if possible."

*********

The GA admiral roared into his comm. channel, "Open fire with everything we've got. Press our advantages and close in for broadsides."

Acting accordingly the fleet moved in. Turbolaser batteries opened up as they approached the defenders. Frigates and corvettes raced ahead to take the fight to the enemy, while the bigger battleships, cruisers and destroyers provided covering fire. Salvos crossed the darkness and slammed into the prows of the _CCS _ships. Ripples ran through the wave of ships as their shields took the attack, but the force exerted was sufficient to cause them to move in the vacuum of space. They replied in kind, focusing on the nearer corvettes and frigates, one plasma torpedo punching through the shields of one _Sacheen_ class frigate and resulting in a spout of fire from the perforated hull. Though slower than laser fire, the plasma shells were still capable of ripping through them. Another plasma salvo hurtled towards the nearest ship, all fire seemingly concentrated on this one ship.

**********

While the super heated matter ate through the ship, killing its crew and tearing the hull apart, the Supreme Commander of the Galactic Alliance Defense Fleet gave orders to his subordinate admiral commanding the fleet from several star systems away.

"For every ship we lose, we will take several of theirs."

"I appreciate the sentiment Supreme Commander, sir, but is that even possible?"

The Jedi Grand Master who was with the Supreme Commander searched the Force for answers. "It is hard to say at this point whether or not we can actually perform that feat. They are remarkably tenacious and I can sense several powerful presences in the Force, even at this point. What's more, there are over a hundred of them."

There was a pause as the others considered this point. Everything resonated within the Force and anything alive especially so. The heightened presence of these aliens meant that there were probably several powerful Force Sensitive's in the invading forces. Not a good sign, especially when considered that one of these aliens, admittedly a high ranking member, had managed to kill a Jedi. Over a hundred of them were part of that army.

**********

"Apha flight!"

The Elite Ultra in command of the squadron flicked on his communications channel. "Supreme Commander, this is an honour."

"For myself as well, but I must get straight to the point. The enemy have the stronger advantage, both in terms of weaponry and number. Their fighters are attempting to distract us while their capital ships get to a closer firing range. Once they do, they'll obliterate us. I want you to get seven flights onto your side, their flagship is the large one in the centre, I'll send you the schematics via computer link now. That's the one I want your attack to go for. Hit the larger gun emplacements in succession, preferably in one pass, then head straight back towards our formation. I'll have the Fleet give you covering fire as you make your charge, and on the way back, but once you get within two hundred metres of the ship, you'll be vulnerable as we will not be capable of firing with you in the line of fire. That'll be the critical point."

"I understand Supreme Commander. Seven flights, that's twenty four _Seraph'_s. Not a lot, but it will have to suffice."

"I know. They have been allocated. Make your run with speed and courage."

***********

The twenty four ships, broke away from their respective chases, their places taken by other ships as they did so. Simultaneously six _CCS_ Battlecruisers lines up their laser projectors with their targets in a circular formation. Feeding information directly to the lead fighter, the Supreme Commander gave the order. From the centre of the capital ships the twenty four fighters began their charge. In a burst of speed they went to their maximum acceleration in a matter of moments. Barely anyone noticed the charge for the first few seconds, then the GA caught on. But even as they moved to intercept, the battlecruisers fired. Their energy projectors lanced out and sent coruscating streams of fire across the void to crash, with devastating force into the ships guarding the flagship. Instantly, return fire was launched and two of the attacking flight were brought down in the hail of scarlet beams. Leading from the front, the Ultra ordered a break in formation and the fighters broke to avoid being hit. Dodging and weaving they avoided the majority of the beams and pressed on. As more ships closed in, the energy projectors of more ships added to the confusion and the flight slipped through the first of the defence layers. They were closer now, closer and getting faster. The Ultra gave the command and they all slipped into a single line.

*********

The flagship, an_ Imperial _class Star Destroyer, opened up with its anti fighter ordinance and laced the attackers with red flame. Their shields held however, and the fighters closed in. The information the Supreme Commander had given the team had pointed out that the _Imperial _class used eight heavy turrets on the sides of the upper superstructure for primary ship to ship engagements. Switching to their plasma charges, the remaining twenty two fighters prepared for the support fire to slacken off. It did, and there was a sudden feeling of calm in the fighters. Then hell clamped down on them. Two of their number vanished in streaks of scarlet and the _Seraph_s went into their attack. Like chain lightning they scattered their charges down on the guns. As the first turret vanished in a ball of expanding flame, the Ultra flipped his fighter. Switching back to his plasma torpedoes he fired one. Loosed from the tube, the torpedo flew as straight as it could, guided by some strange feeling, before impacting. The circular section on the top of the Destroyer erupted. Chortling the Ultra fired again and this torpedo snagged a passing fighter. Behind his fighter, his companions let loose their own charges and laid down a heavy barrage. Crumbling under this single minded assault, the guns blew.

Then the enemy were upon them.

*********

"Commander, behind.."

A ping from the instrument board told the Ultra all he needed to know. His squadron was down by six now.

An X-Wing managed to lock onto one of the _Seraph_s and gave chase. Duking, weaving and twisting, the Covenant fighter managed to avoid several of the shots, while the others impacted on his shield. Then his shield dropped.

"Leader I've lost shields." Warning lights on his screen gave further thought. "I've also sustained hull damage. I won't make it brothers. Leave me to hold them off."

Another added, "So have I."

"My shields are gone and I'm losing power at a strict rate." Put in another.

There were several other murmurs of assent to this statement. The Ultra gave them his final order.

"You have lived with honour brothers!"

The damaged fighters turned around and headed straight back at the Star Destroyer, cheering as they went. With feral battle cries of their ancestors, they crashed headfirst into the waves of enemy fighters. Due to their actions, those seven or eight Sangheili pilots managed to provide enough cover for their comrades to get back to the safety of their own ranks. As a final gesture to their bravery and courage, the Supreme Commander ordered that they fire on the flagship destroyer.

********

It was at this point that the loss of the bridge deflector screens really hurt. Six energy projectors lanced out against the GA flagship and the blasts cut through the hull like needles. In a flare of energy and fire the entire superstructure flashed into incandescence. In a terrific explosion, catching all nearby ships in the blast, the warship detonated.

The Supreme Commander of the Galactic Alliance Defence Fleet, exchanged a quick glance with his underlings.

"It's time to show our hand. Mobilize the Stealth X's and send in the rest of the Armada. We will end this here."

Out of hyperspace came the rest of the Armada as promised, all three thousand ships. In that number, there were twelve _Viscount_ and _Executor _class Super Star Destroyers. The end had come.

* * *

At this point it's safe to say that the Covies now know how the UNSC felt during their war.


	36. Chapter 36

As requested, which made me very happy may I point out, by many people, here is the next chapter. Equally, Jedi are arriving.

* * *

Skirting the protective canopy of battlecruisers, the fleet of cruisers and destroyers got into range for the launching of their ground assault forces. In full view of the ground observation posts they moved into position and began to launch their ground forces. Huge landing barges, small swift gunships and dozens of short range fighters began to descend. The gunships that shot in ahead were packed with hundreds of assault troops, all of them prepped and ready for their new engagements. The barges were lead by one particular barge that was full of particular specialists who were busily checking their armour and equipment before they landed. Over their heads, their leader was giving them a quick rundown on what to expect, as well as any footage on hand for their education. As the first of the assault troops entered the atmosphere, they looked out on the changed cityscape. Considering what they could see, which wasn't much, they were not very happy about the idea of making their landing in a city that could very well turn into a death trap.

"All pilots, be on the lookout for anti aircraft turrets."

----

As the lead craft settled on the permacrete, the Covenant made their move. Even before the troops had disembarked, a single fuel rod round impacted on the stern of the craft and chewed through the metal. Three plasma grenades on the sides added to the brilliant explosion that tore the craft and all inside apart. As soon as that order had been given, the rest of the hidden aerial artillery opened fire. From inside hidden shelters and camouflaged positions, anti air Wraiths opened up. Out of tiny garages and speeder bays jumped up Banshee's and out of the spaceport came one of the gigantic Type 47 Scarab walkers. The descending barges and gunships were caught in the hailstorm of plasma fire and the vast majority of them were torn to shreds. Banshee's descended on the slower gunships and the unprotected barges and they cut through them with a precision and skill that was almost unmatched. Or at least, they did until the enemy fighters that had been assigned to defend their transports came screaming in behind them and began a dogfight that would forever be told in the memories of Correllians for generations to come. This still did not protect the transports from the fusillade of plasma shells that the Covenant continued to fire.

----

But as could be expected, the reality was that the defence could only fire so many rounds per second. Most of the shots they had fired since they took the attackers by surprise had not had the same success. The GA ships were dodging the fire better at this point, and the defence were limited by their numbers. Admittedly, they had utilised a lot of the Correllian defence weaponry and were using it as well, but they had less success with unfamiliar tools. Just to add to the difficulty they had, from above the GA launched their second wave of attacks. Joining in the fray, the GA fired their orbital cannons. Any emplaced weapons had to be abandoned as giant beams lanced down from the sky and ripped gun emplacements to shred. Only the Scarab's quick movements enabled it to escape destruction in the same fashion. Sixteen of the forty two Anti Air Wraiths that had been assigned to the ground forces went up in smoke in the bombardment.

----

Utilising this as a significant distraction the first of the assault troops landed in one of the main Square's of the city. Leaping down the troopers began to secure the site, only to run into incredibly dense fire from the defenders, who had almost immediately moved to defend the site. Sniper fire and lethal plasma began to rain down on the invaders, followed by grenades and fuel rod rounds. Impacts from these shots began to shatter permacrete and tear through bodies. Then one of the gunships lifted off, hovered and turned its guns on the surrounding area. Laser fire smashed anything its way and the Covenant retreated before the incredible strength of the gunships, more of which began to arrive and add to their hail of fire, adding in missiles and other instruments of destruction. Then the first barge landed.

----

Inside the landing barge the troops waited patiently for the order to disembark. A sudden, quick shock told them that the barge had touched down and the officers shouted for their troops to get ready. Blasters were unslung, grenades primed and all final prayers said. As they stood ready, the armoured shell of the barge opened and light pierced through the opening hatch.

"Forward!"

Charging through the open hatch, the troops surged for the surrounding buildings in a flood. They got maybe halfway. From hidden positions on the ground floors and basements of the surrounding buildings, plasma cannons and Pulse turrets opened fire accompanied by standard plasma rifle and beam rifle fire. GA troops collapsed in waves. But this was only the beginning. More barges dropped out of the sky and slammed into the ground, sending dozens of Covenant staggering with the impacts. More and more assault troops began to disembark, their blaster fire lancing into the hidden foxholes and, more often than not, striking a target. With the return fire, the plaza turned into a veritable hailstorm of energy bolts, each one striking somewhere and adding to the confusion. More and more transports began to make their landings and soon the Covenant found themselves bringing in their secret weapon.

----

From the surrounding buildings came a sound that none of the assault troops wanted to hear, the snap-hiss of energy blades igniting. Out of the shadows they came, dozens, no hundreds, of sword wielding Elites. Terrified laser fire impacted on their shields, but the stronger shields of the swordmasters held and they appeared invincible, shots hitting them, but not damaging them in any way. Then they reached the lines of the assault squads. It became a massacre. Instantly among their enemies, the Elites made short work of them with efficient swipes and controlled lunges. To close to risk hitting their comrades with friendly fire, the GA tried to get into close combat, but only achieved the result of having their numbers drastically reduced. The Sangheili swordsmen sliced with their weapons, and the weapons, though not as hot as a lightsaber, diced armour and weapons alike.

----

Spearheaded by the energy swords, the Covenant drove the invaders back, smashing a deep wedge back into their beachhead. Fresh transports were unable to land with the number of struggling bodies on the ground as the Covenant created chaos. With the ground forces thus occupied, the heavy artillery returned their fire to the sky above. Plasma streams once more filled the air as they opened up. The tide began to turn in the Covenants favour. But it was during this all important stage of the battle that the special barge, the one that the GA were relying on, landed.

----

All the combatants below felt themselves being moved out of the way as by an invisible force. The Field Commander, on the edge of the battlefield with his secret weapon, watched as the warriors continued fighting, but not in that one area. For a moment he pondered what this new development, then he turned to his new battalion.

"Be prepared!"

Quickly, he turned his attention to the communications suite next to him. "Inform the Supreme Commander of this new development. We are going to the front."

----

Back on the field, the transport slowly lowered its opening ramp as all around it the battle raged. But even those without the highly trained and honed senses of the Swordmasters could feel it. There was a power on that one barge that outshone everything else. All of them disposed of their immediate enemies and began to converge on the transport as out of the opening walked figures. Robed figures, hooded figures, figures carrying things. With a gesture from their leader the figures flicked their wrists and beams of light sprang from them. Jedi.

* * *

As they say in black and white movies, bum, bum, bum!!! Duals begin next chapter


	37. Chapter 37

Man it's been way, way, way too long for me to hold off on this chapter. I've been struggling with a little bit of writers block. On the good side, I may have finally startd working on a professional project.

* * *

The Sangheili swordsman raised his weapon, catching the blade of the Jedi and holding him there. With a heave, the Sangheili sent him flying backwards. Springing forward, the Elite swung a downward stroke, only to be caught by an invisible grip and thrown aside. Midair, the Elite flipped, gathering himself and landing, steadying himself with a hand. The Jedi frowned and reached out with the Force. It was surprisingly hard to get a reading on this creature. This opponent was operating on pure instinct, not on any other physical ability, instinct and muscle memory. The Jedi could also sense something else, something disturbing. This Elite, along with most of the other swordsmen in the area, they were glowing in the Force, more so than the others. It was possible that the Elite was Force Sensitive, though likely unaware of it.

.

.

The Elite struck again, his sword moving in the pattern of the dance. The Jedi was skilled, of that there was no doubt, but he was unused to the dance, while this Elite had danced many, many times before. His blade flowed as water, it shone like the sun. The Jedi moved well too, but it was a different type of movement, based on trying to use his strength to beat his opponent into submission. To this, the Elite had the perfect answer. He feinted, sliced and stabbed. Hamstrung, the Jedi could only trip forward to be impaled on the sword of the Sangheili. For a moment his eyes widened, then the Sangheili withdrew his blade and snapped it off.

.

.

"You fought bravely and with honour, and you shall be rewarded in the next world. Be at peace."

With a moment of clarity, unlike any other, the Jedi looked up at the Sangheili.

"You are a species the like of which we've never seen. You could be sensitive to the Force, even. Do not fight us anymore."

"Your people attacked us first, Jedi. We do not suffer threats easily. Rest now, for we have made peace with our decision."

The Sangheili's eyes widened as the Jedi stilled, then suddenly vanished. What devilry was this? As the Elite rose to back away from the corpse, he noted something. It was the Jedi's weapon. As the bolts and shells lanced the air around him, the Elite knelt and picked it up. For such a powerful weapon, it felt very light. Thumbing the energy switch, the Elite was entranced by the auburn blade, it's very presence being something of a partial enlightenment, just verging on the understanding, but not quite reaching that level. A bolt impacting on his shields snapped the warrior out of his reverie. With a growl the Elite rose, his focus returned and his muscles tensing. Lightsaber in one hand, energy sword in the other, the Elite charged into the fray like an avenging angel.

.

.

However, others were not faring as well as him. One Sangheili swordsman was fighting against a wookiee Jedi Master, his blade flashing everywhere and his strength on par with that of the Elite bladesman. With one outthrust palm he sent the Sangheili flying. The Elite flipped midair, landing on his feet and sliding backwards a few inches. Charing forward, the Elite jumped, his blade coming down, but the Jedi merely turned allowing the Elite to crash down beside him, then parrying the resulting side cutting attack. The Jedi swept one massive shaggy paw and knocked the Sangheili back several paces. The Elite grimaced in pain, then settled his feet wide and prepared for his next move. With a wave, the Jedi hurled a lump of crushed permacrete at him, but the Elite merely flipped over it and threw down a plasma grenade. Naturally the Jedi went to bat it aside, but the grenade stuck to his sword blade and with only a moments hesitation the Jedi threw it aside. Left vulnerable, the Jedi barely avoided the Elite's cut, even managing to have his fur singed and his flesh opened up. With a growl he staggered back. The Sangheili smiled.

"I knew you'd find it harder to wield your magic while in pain. Now, come on."

As he advanced, the Elite thought he heard a slight wuff of laughter from the Jedi. Then the Jedi made a gesture. With only a second of warning, the Elite dived to the side as the dust where he had been standing swirled of the ground in a violent maelstrom. The Jedi extended one hand and his lightsaber leaped off the ground and back into his hand. In a blind rage the Elite sprang and charged at the Jedi. The last thing he saw was the Jedi drawing back his arm and then thowing the blade at him.

.

.

In general, the Jedi were surprised by the skill and resourcefulness of their opponents, many of them fatally so, but their command of the Force easily tipped the scales in their favour. Some found the lack of conscious thought from the Sangheili to be unsettling, but all of them were able to use the Force to cover for any of their weaknesses. The Sangheili, for their part, were totally and completely pushed to their limit by these new, skilled enemies. Their Supreme Commander had barely beaten one and here they were fighting some fifty of them. This situation was rapidly spiralling out of their control and quite soon, they would be overwhelmed. Appraised of the situation, the Supreme Commander gave his order. The order that would tip the scales back, squarely in the Sangheili's favour. The special battalion was given the go ahead.

.

.

The first the Jedi knew of it, was streams of green plasma coming out of the shadowed buildings. Through the walls came the massive towering forms of Hunters. Most Jedi tried to read the minds of their new opponents, only to find that they couldn't. There were thousands of them. Six Jedi vanished in the flare of plasma fire, while nine more were crushed by the weight of the Hunter assault. Along their shield arms they carried energy shields, all of which held against the lightsaber attacks quite adequately. As they moved forward, so too did a legion of Grunts. All of them sported energy shields and they took positions quickly. Overlapping their shields, they formed a wall. From behind that wall came dozens of plasma grenades. Striding in behind his troops, the Field Master passed on the order, for all the Elites to don their energy shields and move forward into the battle, and speedily too. Given the fact that their enemies could use telekinesis, it would not be long before the tactic of throwing plasma grenades fell through. At this point in time, the biggest weakness in the battle line was right here, where everything was hand to hand. Elsewhere the Covenant could hold back their enemies with relative ease, but it was here that they were throwing their full weight. Plasma swords ignited as the Elites took up the stance that most humans would have recognised as one that was used by Greeks and Macedonians centuries ago. The Phalanx.

* * *

I will finish this story. It just might take a while. Just bear with me.


	38. Chapter 38

This chapter is a little shorter than usual, but you'll have to forgive me. I had lost interest in this story for a long, long time. Even writing this much was a struggle. Just as well there isn't much left at all. Three chapters at most, then an epilogue. I was told in a review that I needed to work on my character interaction more, that the conversations left a little to be desired and that the character development had been ignored. This is not really a story in that sense. There are characters all right, but they only exist because they had an effect on the events. This is a description of the events that transpired with the Hundred and Six, not the story of the crew members. I like to think this is something like an Anthony Beevor book (like Stalingrad,) but I fear that may be a little pretentious, as well as presumptuous, of me.

However, I'm really grateful to all those who waited to see what I produced next, and those who reviewed in my absence. It made me happy.

* * *

The Field Master gave the order to advance. Plasma bolts crossed the gaps between the two armies with rapidly increasing tempo, striking here and there as the distance narrowed and they became more accurate. The towering Hunters formed an integral part of the wall, their heavy cannons decimating the GA troops not in cover. Beam rifles from the surrounding buildings began to add to the fury of firepower. As the phalanx advanced, using its cover squads broke off from behind it and struck the buildings, darting in through windows, doors, any openings they could find. Fierce room to room fighting enveloped the surrounding architecture, the flashes of grenades being echoed by the hissing of plasma bolts and the squeal of laser fire. Somewhere behind the GA lines, their Field Commander was barking orders seeking tank support. Mobilising, the tank force that had been building on the outskirts of the city began to advance into the streets. Reassured with that knowledge, the GA general gave his order.

.

Against the might of a phalanx, the GA military could do little in the ways of offensive manoeuvres, particularly in close quarters. They fell back, drawing off and allowing the Covenant to regain some footing and strengthen their defences. Turrets were replaced, fresh grenades were handed out to the troops and damaged weapons were exchanged.

.

As the Covenant gathered themselves again, the GA moved back out of firing range, giving both themselves and the Covenant a much needed break in the fighting. However, that was only a secondary outcome, not the initial desired effect. That was approaching rapidly, the tank force drawing ever nearer. Or rather they were trying. The Armoured Division of the Fleet of Divine Intervention had intervened, from a distance, and plasma shells were in the process of slamming into the ground, throwing up great gouts of fire and earth. Any tanks in the firing line were reduced to nothing but ashes.

.

In orbit, the Supreme Commander brooded over the battles, both on the ground and in the void. Those dreadnoughts hadn't managed to properly engage his forces yet, but he was hard pressed to order his _CCS _class ships to avoid combat with the behemoths that threatened his lines. Close quarters fighter actions were sufficient to sting the dreadnoughts repeatedly. He really hoped he didn't have to send his cruisers against them, he'd lose more ships than the win would be worth, but at the same time, he couldn't fight in a sweeping fast movement battle that he would have favoured to keep his smaller ships harrying the larger dreadnoughts. As it was they were fighting a retreating battle against much larger forces that his enemies were outputting. Dozens of frigates, corvettes and cruisers darted ahead of the dreadnoughts and ploughed into the Covenant line. Furious firefights erupted at sporadic intervals as the battlecruisers got just as heatedly involved as ever.

.

"Supreme Commander."

"Yes?"

"Sir, I regret to report word from Naboo. Your friend is dead."

There was silence in the CIC. The Supreme Commander turned to his Ship Master.

"Ship Master, you have command for the next fifteen minutes."

"As you wish."

"Maintain present formation and battle tactics. I will return presently."

The Supreme Commander turned and left. There were a few murmurs once the doors had closed behind him, but the Ship Master barked an order for double attention to detail and they ceased.

.

The Supreme Commander sat in his meditation room as the battle raged all around him. What was he to do now? His closest friend, one of his most valued subordinates was dead. He was rapidly losing control, even if his grief did not show itself on his face. Briefly he glanced down at the stump where his left hand had once been. This war was all for nothing. The enemy were the aggressors, true, but his people gained nothing by fighting. They weakened themselves through this, they weakened their fleet. His people could not support themselves with such a drastically reduced force, they would be prey for any who decided to attack them. He also was aware that this was a losing battle. No matter how well his forces fought, they did not have enough resources to win, nor did they have enough soldiers. This galaxy had more than enough of both to succeed. What made things worse was that they were committed to the fight now. Thousands of ships opposed them, possibly more than a million troops were engaged against his forces as he spoke and more would be coming. But what could they do? Surrender was not the option he wanted to consider. Doing so would mean they would be taken prisoner, probably dispersed throughout the galaxy, the leaders, including himself, executed. He could not see this ending well at all. However, he could see only one other alternative, fight to the death, an equally unfitting end.

.

There were just too few options, they were all going to die anyway.

"No." he said to himself.

"No!" he repeated, louder than before.

"No, I will not bow before the inevitable. I will raise my head and I will surpass this with the honour of my people intact. We can surmount this obstacle!"

Surrender was out of the question, but a ceasefire, then a peace treaty was not. They were not rebels, they could not be forced to surrender. Fondor could be exchanged as part of the agreement, his forces would withdraw from Corellia and his fleet would retire. That would give them enough time to swing by Kamino and pick up their females. The possibility rallied his mind. He needed to level the playing field however. Those with a stronger position do not think to make a ceasefire with those they believe weaker than themselves, he needed to take away their advantage. The Supreme Commander stood and strode from the room, a confidence in his walk borne of cold grim realization.

* * *

This will be the final push of the Hundred and Six.


End file.
